The research on the effects of drug abuse on adolescents involves a specific group of people. In this case, the most convenient sampling method to use is convenience sampling. In this type of sampling, researchers seek participants who are easy to access and have a strong willingness to respond. When selecting the sample, the sampling mode is usually not random, as one has to seek the consent of participation from the respondents before providing any information related to the study. Although the method may introduce bias, it has gained great acceptance and usage among researchers (Gravetter & Forzano, 2018). Convenience sampling has advantages that make it ideal for the current study on the effects of drug abuse among adolescents.
When researching, the main aim is to gather information successfully while simultaneously minimizing resource usage. Convenience sampling achieves this objective as it is cheaper and requires less effort during the data collection process. The method is an excellent way to collect qualitative information as one receives appropriate feedback from the respondent’s perspectives. This type of sampling saves time. For instance, the participants can fill out questionnaires within few minutes. Adolescents are quick to learn. Thus, if given questions to answer, they will most likely give the required information on drug use as quickly as possible. The fact that this type of sampling involves a general population makes collecting information much more manageable. It is said that convenience sampling is prone to potential bias. Researchers are careful to use data that minimizes or eliminates biasness from their results (Gaille, 2020). However, just like any other sampling method, this too has several drawbacks.
A researcher may require to gather information about the entire population involved to any avail. According to Gaille (2020), convenience sampling is not the best as it only provides information from the respondents’ points of view. In this case, the researcher has no control over the kind of information the respondent provides. The researcher cannot ascertain whether the respondent honestly replied to the questions or they lied in the process. In this sampling method, only specific information is collected. Thus, conclusions on the matter are also made using that limited information. As a result, an organization or bodies relying on such information may receive misleading information. In some cases, respondents may not be willing to give out information in an online survey. As a result, the researcher may then decide to approach them in a friendly manner or incentivize them. Such actions may introduce bias to the information being collected. Also, the sampling method does not give differences in the subgroups within the target group. The researcher then can make too many generalizations, which may be false.
Convenience sampling may be faced with drawbacks, but its advantages surpass them. When studying the effects of drug abuse on adolescents, it is essential to use this sampling method. One needs the opinion of each individual participating in the research, and this method of sampling has room for that. The fact that the process is easier and cheap makes it the best method to use, especially in conducting pilot research. Although convenience sampling may introduce some bias, researchers take caution to eliminate such bias as much as possible to ensure data integrity (Gravetter & Forzano, 2018). There is no doubt that using convenience sampling will be the most convenient and appropriate for the current research study.
