Population or Pool of Possible

¶ … population or pool of possible subjects for this project, because the population is too large for that type of study. Therefore, the study must focus on a sample of the population. "When determining which potential subjects from a large population to include in our study there are several approaches to choose from. Each of these sampling techniques have its own strengths and, of course, its own weaknesses. The idea behind adequate sampling, however, remains the same: to gather a sample of subjects that is representative of the greater population. The ideal research sample is therefore often referred to as a representative sample" (AllPsych, 2003).

In order to get a representative sample for this project, it is important to get a random sample. However, the population is sufficiently large that a simple random sample might be difficult to attain. Therefore, using a random number sample might be the best way to get an actual representative sample of the population. "A random number table is a computer generated list of numbers placed in random order" (AllPsych, 2003). The population is assigned random numbers, and those numbers are selected using a random number generator to determine the subjects for the survey. Because the population size for questioning is manageable, this use of random number survey should ensure a sufficiently random sample. The only significant problem with the selection of a random sample from a random number table is that it might not adequately reflect the members of different subgroups within the population. However, because I do not anticipate that subgroups will have a significant impact on the research questions, I am not concerned about having representative sections of different subgroups.

I do plan on sampling human beings, rather than attempting to gather data in another format. The study that I have planned does not present any ethical issues that would preclude using human subjects for the research. When determining whether it is ethical to do research on human subjects, a researcher has to consider several different factors. First, can the research be performed safely on the subject? In some cases, the answer to this question may be no, but the research still be justified, if the possible benefits of the research outweigh the risks to the subjects. In this study, there is no safety danger to the subjects. Second, the researcher must attain informed consent from the research participants. It will be easy to obtain this consent, which can be done in writing, prior to having the subjects participate in the study. Informed consent does not have to describe the nature or purpose of the research, but it does need to inform the subjects of the risks and benefits of the research, any possible dangers, and the subject's ability to opt-out of the research. There are no inherent risks in this project, therefore the subjects will be informed that there are no inherent risks in this project. Third, the subjects need to be aware how their information will be treated. Will the nature of the research reveal the identity of the subjects, or can research information be kept confidential? In this study, the nature of the responses should ensure the privacy and confidentiality of each subject's responses, so that privacy concerns will not be an issue. Finally, the use of human subjects for this project can comply with the three ethical principles cited in the Belmont Report: autonomy, beneficence, and justice. There is no reason to expect that any member of the subject population would be incapable of giving informed consent, would be harmed by the study, or would feel coerced into participating in the study. Because there does not appear to be an ethical reason to avoid the use of human subjects, the study will use humans.