The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design

Sampling is somewhat underemphasized compared to how data are collected and analyzed in empirical qualitative research. Yet qualitative research in particular needs transparent and comprehensible procedures about how to select units of analysis. In this chapter, we will address this issue in three major steps. First, we will start with discussing some basic questions. Respecting the claim that social research has to yield results that go beyond a single case, we will outline how different research purposes such as principles of generalization – which are presented and discussed in more detail in an extra chapter (see Maxwell, Chapter 20) – constitute a framework for sampling that is shaped by various…