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 2500 students in each of those five schools, he randomly recruits 250 students. This is an example of which of the following sampling techniques?

a) Convenience sampling
b) Stratified sampling
c) Cluster sampling
d) Random sampling

Answer 1

Dr. Tanaka's selection of five high schools and then 250 students from each is an example of cluster sampling.

Step-by-step explanation:

Dr. Tanaka is using a sampling technique known as cluster sampling. This technique involves selecting random groups (or clusters) from a larger population where each cluster is meant to be a miniature representation of the whole population. In this case, Dr. Tanaka's choice of five high schools out of fifteen and then selecting 250 students from each chosen school exemplifies cluster sampling. It is important to note that this is different from stratified sampling, where the researcher would divide the population into groups (or strata) and then take a proportional sample from each stratum, and also different from simple random sampling where each individual in the entire population would have an equal chance of being selected.