Super Soap Inc is planning a new line of cleaning products targeted at budget-minded consumers. They want to conduct a survey to find out whether it will be popular with buyers. They decide to choose five states across the country at random. The cleaning products are marketed on a trial basis to middle- and low-income groups in these states. Which type of sampling method are the researchers using?
random sampling
cluster sampling
convenience sampling
quota sampling
helpplz
The researchers in this scenario are using a type of sampling method known as cluster sampling.
Cluster sampling involves dividing the population into groups or clusters, and then randomly selecting a few of these clusters to include in the sample. In this case, the researchers have chosen five states as clusters and are planning to include participants from these clusters in their survey.
This method is different from random sampling, where individuals are selected completely at random from the entire population, and convenience sampling, where participants are chosen based on their ease of access or availability. It is also different from quota sampling, where researchers define specific quotas for certain demographic groups and then choose participants to meet those quotas.
By using cluster sampling, the researchers are able to gather data from a selected subset of the population (middle- and low-income groups in the five chosen states) to evaluate the popularity of their cleaning products among budget-minded consumers.