Case example for Random selection

Case example for Random selection

Definition : Random selection is the process of selecting a smaller group of individuals from a larger group to be participants in a study. Every person has an equal chance of being selected which allows each of the individuals in the group the same chance of participating. Here is an example of random selection:

The investigator selects 200 names from a list of 50,000 Hispanic women by placing all of their names in a hat. Each name is put on a separate piece of paper and names are drawn until 200 names have been picked. This procedure to select names at random can also be done by using special computer programs. A computer program would probably be used for this process when there are hundreds of participants to randomly choose.

Discussion questions

1. Do the women included on this list represent the larger group?

2. Would you choose participants differently if this was your study? If so, how would you do it?

3. What if the researcher decided to ignore the random selection procedures as described in this example (e.g. pulling names from a hat, using a computer program to generate random numbers)? How would this affect the results of the study?

		ORI Curriculum Examples

	Case example for Random selection Definition : Random selection is the process of selecting a smaller group of individuals from a larger group to be participants in a study. Every person has an equal chance of being selected which allows each of the individuals in the group the same chance of participating. Here is an example of random selection: The investigator selects 200 names from a list of 50,000 Hispanic women by placing all of their names in a hat. Each name is put on a separate piece of paper and names are drawn until 200 names have been picked. This procedure to select names at random can also be done by using special computer programs. A computer program would probably be used for this process when there are hundreds of participants to randomly choose. Discussion questions 1. Do the women included on this list represent the larger group? 2. Would you choose participants differently if this was your study? If so, how would you do it? 3. What if the researcher decided to ignore the random selection procedures as described in this example (e.g. pulling names from a hat, using a computer program to generate random numbers)? How would this affect the results of the study?