Snowball Sampling
Snowball sampling (also called
network, chain referral, or reputational sampling) is a method for
identifying and sampling (or selecting) cases in the network. It is based on an analogy to a snowball,
which begins small but becomes larger as it is rolled on wet snow and picks up additional snow. It
begins with one or a few people or cases and spreads out on the basis of links to thee initial cases.
This design has been found quite useful where respondents are difficult to identify and are best located
through referral networks. In the initial stage of snowball sampling, individuals are discovered and may
or may not be selected through probability methods. This group is then used to locate others who
possess similar characteristics and who, in turn, identify others. The "snowball" gather subjects as it
rolls along.
For example, a researcher examines friendship networks among teenagers in a community. He or she
begins with three teenagers who do not know each other. Each teen names four close friends. The
researcher then goes to the four friends and asks each to name four close friends, then goes to those four
and does the same thing again, and so forth. Before long, a large number of people are involved. Each
person in the sample is directly or indirectly tied to the original teenagers, and several people may have
named the same person. The researcher eventually stops, either because no new names are given,
indicating a closed network, or because the network is so large that it is at thee limit of what he or she
can study.
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