เปรียบเทียบวิธี

	การสุ่มตัวอย่างแบบลูกบอลหิมะภาคสนาม	การชักชวนผู้ตอบแบบสอบถามแบบลูกโซ่
สาขาวิชา	ระเบียบวิธีสำรวจ	ระเบียบวิธีสำรวจ
ตระกูล	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
ปีกำเนิด	1961 (foundational); field variant developed through 1970s–1980s ethnographic and hidden population research	1997
ผู้ริเริ่ม	Leo A. Goodman (snowball sampling); field adaptation through ethnographic and social network research traditions	Douglas Heckathorn
ประเภท	Non-probability sampling technique	Probabilistic chain-referral sampling design
แหล่งต้นตำรับ	Goodman, L. A. (1961). Snowball sampling. Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 32(1), 148–170.	Heckathorn, D. D. (1997). Respondent-driven sampling: A new approach to the study of hidden populations. Social Problems, 44(2), 174–199.
ชื่อเรียกอื่น	in-person snowball sampling, fieldwork chain-referral sampling, field snowball sampling, face-to-face referral sampling	Chain-Referral Sampling, Peer-Referral Sampling, Network-Based Sampling, Katılımcı Güdümlü Örnekleme
ที่เกี่ยวข้อง	3	3
สรุป	Field-based snowball sampling is a non-probability chain-referral technique in which an initial set of in-person contacts (seeds) recruit further participants from within their real-world social networks, expanding the sample iteratively through face-to-face interaction in naturalistic field settings. It is the default snowball approach in ethnographic and community fieldwork, and is particularly valuable when the target population is hidden, hard-to-reach, or lacks a sampling frame.	Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) is a probabilistic chain-referral method designed to reach hidden or hard-to-reach populations that lack a sampling frame. Introduced by sociologist Douglas Heckathorn in 1997, RDS combines snowball recruitment with mathematical weighting based on participants' personal network sizes, allowing researchers to generate population-level estimates even when no complete membership list exists.