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Snowball Sampling/Evidence
Method evidence record

Snowball Sampling

Snowball sampling is a non-probability recruitment technique in which initial participants (seeds) refer the researcher to others who meet the study criteria, and those referrals in turn refer further participants. The sample grows incrementally — like a rolling snowball — until the required size or theoretical saturation is reached. It is the method of choice when a target population has no accessible sampling frame, such as undocumented migrants, illicit drug users, survivors of stigmatised experiences, or members of closed professional networks.

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Source record

Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.

Snowball Sampling (Chain-Referral Sampling)
Taxonomic method record · process-pipeline / survey-methodology
  • Goodman, L. A. (1961). Snowball sampling. Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 32(1), 148–170. · DOI 10.1214/aoms/1177705148
  • Biernacki, P., & Waldorf, D. (1981). Snowball sampling: Problems and techniques of chain referral sampling. Sociological Methods and Research, 10(2), 141–163. · DOI 10.1177/004912418101000205
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Claims persisted in the evidence ledger, each with its own assessment.

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Related methods

Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.

Taxonomic bucketMaximum Variation Samplingmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Taxonomic bucketPurposive samplingmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyRespondent-Driven Samplingmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.

Evidence status

Sources recorded, not reviewed

Bibliographic sources are present. Claim-level evidence review has not been performed.

Sources

2 recorded citations, copied from the method source record.

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