Talk:Snowball sampling

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[edit] Representativeness of Snowball sampling

As long ago as 1990 Van Meter summarised research that showed snowball sampling can be representative if selection for the sample is treated as a stochastic process and the probability of selection for the sample is calculated.

On the other hand, Guttman showed that random samples with low response rates can be extremely unrepresentative. In many surveys the respondents are not matched back to the population and there is no way of asserting that the final responses are representative of the population being studied. 203.13.1.142 (talk) 06:09, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

References van Meter K, "Methodological and Design Issues: Techniques for Assessing the Representativenees of Snowball Samples" in Lambert E (ed), The collection and Interpretation of Data from Hidden Populations, NIDA Research Monograph 98, National Institute on Drug Abuse Rockville, 31-43, 1990.

Guttman L "What is not what in Statistics. Statistical inference revisted - 1984" Bull Methodologie Sociol 4:3-35, 1984