Inclusion criterion required that participants be at least 18 years of age. Forty-one percent described themselves as Caucasian, 41% Asian/Pacific Islander, 6% African-American, 6% Latino, and 6% other. The Institutional Review Board at the affiliated university approved this research. Participants provided informed consent and completed online questionnaires regarding social networking use and experiences, rumination, and depressive symptoms. Three weeks after the first survey participants in this group were e-mailed instructions to complete an online follow-up survey that included an assessment of depressive symptoms. Critique

The sampling method that was used for these studies were appropriate in trying to answer the research question of how are social networking use and the quality of interactions associated with depressive symptoms? The major goal of purposive sampling is to center on specific characteristics of a population that are of interest, which will best enable a researcher to answer their questions. The sample being looked at...

Purposive sampling techniques range from homogeneous sampling through to critical case sampling, expert sampling, and more. Purposive samples, irrespective of the kind of purposive sampling used, can be extremely prone to researcher bias. Yet, this judgemental, subjective part of purpose sampling is only a major disadvantage when such judgements are ill-conceived or poorly measured (Purposive sampling: An overview, 2010).
References

Davila, J., Hershenberg, R., Feinstein, B.A., Gorman, K., Bhatia, V., & Starr, L.R. (2012).

Frequency and quality of social networking among young adults: Associations with depressive symptoms, rumination, and corumination. Psychology Of…