Sample Size and Saturation in PhD Studies Using Qualitative Interviews

By M. Mason. 2010

3,657 citations recorded by the source corpus.

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c25951ef3d0056c6fe63de9c920ff553e172eb8a

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Education

In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

What Influences Saturation? Estimating Sample Sizes in Focus Group Research (2019, positive): “It is not reaching a particular benchmark that is critical but reaching a point where it is determined that new discoveries do not add further insights, thus reaching a point of “diminishing returns” in terms of developing a sufficiently robust understanding of the phenomenon (Mason, 2010).”
Characterising and justifying sample size sufficiency in interview-based studies: systematic analysis of qualitative health research over a 15-year period (2018, methodology): “On the basis of the researchers’ previous experience and the literature, [30, 31] we”
How Many Interviews Are Enough to Identify Metathemes in Multisited and Cross-cultural Research? Another Perspective on Guest, Bunce, and Johnson’s (2006) Landmark Study (2017, background): “While there is a large and growing literature on methods for qualitative research, one area that remains underdeveloped is sample size estimation (Francis et al. 2010; Mason 2010; Onwuegbuzie and Leech 2007).”
Sample Size Policy for Qualitative Studies Using In-Depth Interviews (2012, background): “Most scholars argue that the concept of saturation is the most important factor to think about when mulling over sample size decisions in qualitative research (Mason,2010).”
A practical guide to reflexivity in qualitative research: AMEE Guide No. 149 (2022, background): “For example, rather than writing “we achieved saturation at 12 interviews,” reflexive reporting requires the researchers to be more transparent about how they decided that their data or analyses were sufficient for the purposes of their study (Mason 2010).”
Science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge development during enactment of socioscientific curriculum materials (2019, background): “From the pilot study, it was concluded that a minimum number of seven teachers per country is adequate to reach data saturation (Mason, 2010).”
Using conceptual depth criteria: addressing the challenge of reaching saturation in qualitative research (2017, background): “Mason (2010) Corresponding author: James Nelson, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast, 69-71 University St, Belfast BT7 1HL, UK.”
The influence of language differences on power dynamics in multinational teams (2017, result): “Saturation was reached when our within- and between-team comparisons no longer yielded new information (Mason, 2010).”
Sample Size in Qualitative Interview Studies (2016, background): “However, this principle provides no guidance for planning, although experienced researchers seem to follow their own rules of thumb about approximate numbers of units that were needed in previous comparable studies to arrive at a responsible analysis (Mason, 2010).”
Motivations for implementation of ecological compensation areas on Swiss lowland farms (2014, background): “As long as saturation can be achieved (Mason, 2010), sample size has little bearing on the project’s basic logic (Crouch and McKenzie, 2006).”
Saturation controversy in qualitative research: Complexities and underlying assumptions. A literature review (2020, methodology): “Diverse sample size for interviews to enable saturation have been suggested by various researchers (Constantinou et al., 2017; Guest et al., 2006; Page 12 of 17 Mason, 2010; Roy et al., 2015; Tran et al., 2017).”
Women entrepreneurship in developing economies: A gender-based growth model (2021, methodology): “This process continued until the return of new data ceased, implying data saturation had been reached (Mason, 2010).”
Expanding computer science education in schools: understanding teacher experiences and challenges (2016, methodology): “We used data saturation as the factor in determining an adequate sample size for the qualitative study (Mason, 2010).”
Farm diversification, entrepreneurship and technology adoption : analysis of upland farmers in Wales (2017, background): “The scope of the research, nature of the data sought, data quality and the mixed design (Mason, 2010) were all considered when considering the number of interviews.”