Population

Looking beyond how population is often construed in everyday life (i.e., as every person who resides in a [Page 644]given country, town, state, or province), population as a concept in research methods refers to every individual who fits the criteria (broad or narrow) that the researcher has laid out for research participants (e.g., all individuals who took Sociology 101 at the University of Victoria in 2001).

Conceptually, population is perhaps most easily understood when it is contrasted with the concept of a sample. A sample is different from a population because it includes only a portion of the population. In the case where the researcher uses a sample of participants, the researcher may have decided that it is not financially or chronologically feasible to study the whole population of, for example, unwed mothers in Canada. Hence, he or she may choose instead to study a subset of that population (i.e., a sample).

Because qualitative researchers tend to study smaller numbers of people in great depth, it is perhaps more common for them to study small samples. An example helps illustrate why this tendency is the case. It is not feasible to complete an in-depth, qualitative, interview study of the full population of unwed mothers in Canada. Even if it were theoretically possible to interview this full population, the analysis of the transcripts would be completely unwieldy. That being said, as mentioned earlier, a population can be a very small group as well—particularly if the criteria for the group being studied are very tightly defined. In this next case, the qualitative researcher may indeed study the full population. For example, perhaps the researcher in this instance is interested in examining the experiences of students enrolled in a new and experimental early education program. In this case, there may be only 10–12 students, and it is, therefore, realistic and perhaps important to get the perspective of everyone participating in the program so as to more accurately examine the successes and failures of this experimental program.

In essence, whether qualitative researchers decide to study a population or a sample from the population, the choice should reflect which approach will provide the answers they require from their research question. For example, they should consider whether a sample of unwed mothers can provide the insight they are seeking into the experience of being an unwed mother or whether a sample of students in a new and experimental educational program can fully answer the questions related to this program's successes and failures. With this in mind, qualitative researchers can decide whether they need to collect data from the full population (i.e., all eligible participants who meet the study criteria).