Is there a piece of research or theorist that states that sample sizes are often constricted by size/culture.?

Question

I am currently writing my proposal for my disstertation and I am planning on gathering my data by creating a website therefore allowing a widespread response.

My initial reasoning behind this was that the sample size will be larger and more culturally diverse. Is there a piece of research that criticises condensed samples?

Also can you think of any more reasons why this method is superior?

Answer 1

is there not already an internal critic in sociology that sample sizes that are small are no generalisable. This is particularly directed at fieldwork rather than survey methods.

I dont know what sample you are targeting. Perhaps you should consider the composition of the internet in terms of age, s*x, social class etc before you preceed.

You might be restricting your sample by goin with a website. Its an availbality method, its also not very pro-active. Ive taken a sociological survey online before, but they also had an offline sample. Maybe you should consider doing both an online and offline survey.

Answer 2

I think gathering your data by website is actually worse because you can't check for computer error or the off-chance that someone might hack into the system. It definitely is not an approved method by any scientific journals used by people in the research business.