Question

Dr. Tanaka is an educational psychologist interested in students' attitudes toward science and the effect of those attitudes on performance on standardized tests. He chooses his local school district to study. There are 15 high schools, and he randomly chooses five. Then, of the 2,500 students in each of those five schools, he randomly recruits 250 students. This is an example of which of the following sampling techniques?

Select one:
a. Cluster sample
b. Systematic sample
c. Snowball sample
d. Multistage sample

Answer 1

Dr. Tanaka's method is an example of multistage sampling, where he first randomly selects some high schools and then randomly selects a number of students within those schools.

Step-by-step explanation:

Dr. Tanaka's sampling method is an example of a multistage sample. He first randomly chooses a subset of high schools (five out of fifteen) and then within those selected schools, he further randomly selects a subset of students (250 out of 2,500). This approach involves selecting samples in different stages, hence the term multistage sampling. It is different from cluster sampling where all members of selected clusters would be included, or systematic sampling which would involve selecting every nth individual from a list, or snowball sampling which relies on participants to refer other participants and is not random. The intent of multistage sampling is to reduce cost and increase efficiency while still maintaining the randomness necessary for statistical validity.