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Table 1 Final definition for qualitative sampling, including methodological tradition-specific variations

From: Reviewing the research methods literature: principles and strategies illustrated by a systematic overview of sampling in qualitative research

Term

Definition and tradition-specific variations

Sampling

The selection of specific data sources from which data are collected in order to address the research objectives

 In grounded theory

What is selected (i.e., the sampling unit) in theoretical sampling is unclear or inconsistent between authors (i.e., it may not simply be data sources)

 In phenomenology

What is selected is restricted to people only (i.e., a single type of data source)

 In case study

What is selected includes cases (i.e., in addition to data sources)

  1. Developed after numerous iterations in the methods overview on sampling [18]