Now that you’ve selected which approach you will use; the following steps will help you develop and conduct your assessment.
Step 3: Determining the sample
Selecting an appropriate sample population is a crucial step in collecting quality data and, depending on your sampling strategy, can allow you to draw conclusions about your entire community, not just the individuals who participate in the assessment.
A sample population is a portion of the total population you are interested in for your assessment. A sampling strategy is the process you use to determine your sample.
First, determine who would be able to provide the necessary information to address your objectives. Those who can answer your questions to address the overall objectives are your target population.
Based on the objectives that you identified earlier, complete the following exercise to identify your target population.
Be specific in terms of the characteristics you would like included in your target population (also known as inclusion criteria). This will help you determine who should and should not be invited to participate in your assessment. This may include age, occupation, exposure to disaster, living in certain region, have certain health conditions, etc. In determining about your target population, it may also help to think about who should not be considered (also known as exclusion criteria).
Exercise:
I would like to ask questions of the following group(s):
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
Example(s):
I would like to ask questions of the following group(s):
- Women living in my city/town who are 5-9 months pregnant
- Parents/Caretakers with infants under the age of 1 living in a shelter after a disaster in my city/town
For the Fundamental approach, use a convenience sampling strategy, a simple convenient random sampling strategy, or a convenient snowball sampling strategy.
- A convenience sampling strategy is selecting participants for your study or assessment who are easy to identify and collect data from. This is typically the easiest and faster way to collect data from a target population. This may include asking for suggestions at a local Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) center or through other community groups.
- A simple convenient random sampling strategy is to 1) take a list your agency already maintains of your target population and 2) randomly select people to participate in your assessment.
- A convenient snowball sampling strategy is when you ask participants to recommend other people who match your target population. For example, if you are interviewing a pregnant woman at a local WIC center, you might ask her if she knows of other pregnant women who would be willing to participate in your assessment.
The following are examples of potential convenience samples you might utilize in your region. The groups most convenient to you may differ depending on your work and your connections in the target jurisdictions.
- Displaced women in one local homeless shelter
- New caretakers or expecting mothers in a local home vising program
- Health care workers in a local home vising program
- Residents you already have contact information on and can invite to participate in a survey
- Participants in a local clinical support program
If using a convenience sample, there are no strict rules on the number of participants to include in your assessment.
One limitation with convenience samples is that the findings may be biased and may not represent your full population’s opinions. However, you will be able to use the data to make decisions about post-disaster reproductive health services in your area.
