Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding Author Lawrence A. Palinkas, Ph. Albert G. Purposeful sampling is widely used in qualitative research for the identification and selection of information-rich cases related to the phenomenon of interest.
Although there are several different purposeful sampling strategies, criterion sampling appears to be used most commonly in implementation research. However, combining sampling strategies may be more appropriate to the aims of implementation research and more consistent with recent developments in quantitative methods. This paper reviews the principles and practice of purposeful sampling in implementation research, summarizes types and categories of purposeful sampling strategies and provides a set of recommendations for use of single strategy or multistage strategy designs, particularly for state implementation research.
Keywords: mental health services, children and adolescents, mixed methods, qualitative methods implementation, state systems. Recently there have been several calls for the use of mixed method designs in implementation research Proctor et al. This has been precipitated by the realization that the challenges of implementing evidence-based and other innovative practices, treatments, interventions and programs are sufficiently complex that a single methodological approach is often inadequate.
This is particularly true of efforts to implement evidence-based practices EBPs in statewide systems where relationships among key stakeholders extend both vertically from state to local organizations and horizontally between organizations located in different parts of a state. As in other areas of research, mixed method designs are viewed as preferable in implementation research because they provide a better understanding of research issues than either qualitative or quantitative approaches alone Palinkas et al.
Sampling strategies for quantitative methods used in mixed methods designs in implementation research are generally well-established and based on probability theory. In contrast, sampling strategies for qualitative methods in implementation studies are less explicit and often less evident.
