How to do purposive sampling in 6 steps

A six-step process for running purposive sampling in a qualitative study, from a precise research question to recruiting strictly against your criteria. It suits user interviews, customer discovery and UX studies where you pick participants for the experience they have, not at random. In Koji, screening questions on the study landing page turn away people who don't meet your criteria before the interview starts.

Where this appears

• Purposive Sampling: The Complete Guide to Strategic Participant Selection

What's in this process

1. Define your research question precisely: Know exactly what you want to understand, such as why buyers stall before their first workflow.
2. Describe the ideal participant: Who has the most direct, recent and relevant experience of what you are studying?
3. Choose your sampling type: Criterion for focused product research, maximum variation to explore, snowball for people who are hard to reach.
4. Write specific screening criteria: Turn each characteristic into a yes/no question that is specific, verifiable and relevant to the question.
5. Document your sampling rationale: Write down why you chose these criteria before you begin, so readers can judge whether findings transfer.
6. Recruit to criteria, not to fill slots: Don't relax criteria when recruiting is slow. Eight people who fit beat 20 who only roughly qualify.