Expert Sampling

The logic and power of expert sampling lie in selecting people to study or interview who are especially knowledgeable about a topic and are willing to share their knowledge. Expert sampling involves identifying key informants who can inform an inquiry through their knowledge, experience, and expertise. Experts can provide valuable insights into the root of problems, what has been tried and failed, what has been tried and worked, and future trends to watch.

Using key informants began with ethnographers who needed indigenous expertise to help them understand cultures other than their own. Sociologists developed focus groups and interview methods with key informants to study issues in their own countries. A carefully selected group of naturally acute observers and well-informed people can serve as a panel of experts about a setting or situation, experts who can take the researcher inside a phenomenon of interest. Expert sampling to interview key informants can be part of research and evaluation on any specialized issue that requires in-depth knowledge of what goes on in a place and how things work. For example, expert sampling could be used with special education teachers to learn about the issues involved in teaching children with special needs.

Expert sampling can be used to gather data from experts through surveys. Interviews with experts are among the most common sampling strategies for qualitative inquiry. The challenge is identifying and gaining the cooperation of genuinely knowledgeable experts, whether through surveys or interviews. As with all sampling, what a researcher or evaluator ends up learning in a study depends on who is sampled. The credibility and utility of expert sampling results depend on the credibility and depth of knowledge of the experts surveyed, interviewed, and/or observed.

See also Convenience Sampling; Focus Groups; Qualitative Research Methods; Survey Methods; Surveys