Public attitudes toward stuttering in Turkey: probability versus convenience sampling.

PURPOSE

A Turkish translation of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) was used to compare probability versus convenience sampling to measure public attitudes toward stuttering.

METHOD

A convenience sample of adults in Eskişehir, Turkey was compared with two replicates of a school-based, probability cluster sampling scheme.

RESULTS

The two replicates of the probability sampling scheme yielded similar demographic samples, both of which were different from the convenience sample. Components of subscores on the POSHA-S were significantly different in more than half of the comparisons between convenience and probability samples, indicating important differences in public attitudes.

CONCLUSIONS

If POSHA-S users intend to generalize to specific geographic areas, results of this study indicate that probability sampling is a better research strategy than convenience sampling.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

The reader will be able to: (1) discuss the difference between convenience sampling and probability sampling; (2) describe a school-based probability sampling scheme; and (3) describe differences in POSHA-S results from convenience sampling versus probability sampling.