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How to create a representative sample

To create a sample that is representative of your audience, you need to follow these basic steps.

1. Formulate the purpose of the research

Think through and write down the goals and objectives of the work. Determine:

  • what questions do you want to get answers to;
  • how you will use the research results.

If your goal is to get new ideas and hypotheses, then whatsapp number list you need to conduct qualitative research. If you need precise answers to closed questions, for example, to determine the capacity of a segment or the effectiveness of advertising, then use quantitative surveys.

2. Describe the target audience

Formulate what audience you want to study. As a rule, a company works with several segments at once. Select those groups of clients that must be included what exactly does that mean? in the study. Usually, they take the core of the target audience and several of the most profitable segments.

Segment your customers and choose which groups of people should be included in your research

If possible, estimate the size of your audience as a whole and each segment individually. This information will give you an idea of ​​the size of your overall population.

3. Highlight the main characteristics of the target audience

Depending on your research topic, determine which audience characteristics most influence people’s responses.

This could be gender, age, income, place of residence, employment and education, social status, main expense items, use of a car or other equipment, lifestyle features. Choose from one to five key factors – they will determine the sample structure.

For example, you are conducting research for a network of fitness centers and want to find out which sports are in demand in the largest cities of Russia. Then the key parameters will be:

  • age – the services a person uses largely depend on it;
  • income – it is important for a business to know how much a client is willing to spend on an expense item such as sports;
  • geography of residence – the network operates in cities with a population of over a million, so they need to be researched.
4. Set the sample structure

Find information on the audience distribution by the mobile lead parameters you have chosen in open sources.

If there is no such data, then organize two stages of research. At the first stage, conduct a mass survey to clarify the proportions of the audience, at the second stage, ask questions on the topic being studied.

5. Calculate the sample size

If the research is qualitative, then it is not necessary to calculate the sample size. It is enough to repeat the audience structure in focus groups or in-depth interviews, even if there are few respondents.

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