Alternative methods for selecting web survey samples

Probability-based sampling is the gold standard for general population surveys. However, when interested in more specific populations (e.g., consumers of a particular brand), a lot of research uses data from non-probability-based online panels.

Introduction

Probability-based sampling is usually considered as the gold standard to survey general population, because the probability to select any unit is known and sampling errors can be calculated (Cochran, 1977). However, using probability-based sampling is often difficult, in particular, for web surveys (Couper, 2000). In addition, a lot of research focuses on specific populations (Revilla, 2017). All in all, "probability sampling generally is not used in recruiting online panels" (Fulgoni, 2014, p. 133), but the majority of online research is based on non-probability panels (AAPOR Standards Committee, 2010).

To select respondents corresponding to the target population, filter questions are...

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