Editing Snowball sampling (section)

==Virtual snowball sampling==
{{One source section|find=virtual snowball sampling|date=November 2022}}
Virtual snowball sampling is a variation of traditional snowball sampling and it relies on virtual networks of participants. It brings new advantages but also disadvantages for the researcher.

===Advantages===
*In hard-to-reach and hard-to-involve populations online sampling can better detect individuals of researcher's interest and allows to expand geographical scope of the studies<ref name="Baltar">{{cite journal|last1=Baltar|first1=Fabiola|last2=Brunet|first2=Ignasi|title=Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook|journal=Internet Research|volume=22|issue=1|pages=55–74|doi=10.1108/10662241211199960|date=2012}}</ref>
*Brings the possibility to increase representativeness of the results<ref name="Baltar"/>
*Virtual sampling can increase the number of responses in comparison with traditional snowball sampling. According to Baltar (2012) who used [[Facebook]] to search for participants for his study and conduct the research, it was possible to reduce the time necessary for building trust between the participant and researcher. Participants were more likely to share their personal information because the researcher was also sharing personal information on his/her Facebook profile. Increased level of confidence contributed to higher response rate<ref name="Baltar"/>
*Less costly relative to traditional snowball sampling technique<ref name="Baltar"/>

===Disadvantages===
*Even though the virtual sampling method can increase representativeness of the results, sample selection is biased towards the characteristics of online population such as gender, age, education level, socioeconomic level, etc.<ref name="Baltar"/> 
*Target population might not always have access to the Internet<ref name="Baltar"/>

===Example used in research===
Virtual snowball sampling technique was used in order to find participants for the study of a minority group – Argentinian entrepreneurs living in Spain. About 60 percent of this population has double nationality – both Spanish and Argentinian. Spanish national statistics classifies them as European citizens only and there is no information about the place of birth tied to the profiles of entrepreneurs in Spain either. Therefore, referring to national statistics only, made it impossible to build a [[sample frame]] for this research. The use of virtual networks in this example of hard to reach population, increased the number of participating subjects and as a consequence, improved the representativeness of results of the study.<ref name="Baltar"/>