Sampling for Group Comparisons

Samples for the purpose of comparing groups may be generated in different ways: Samples of university students may rely on convenience, whereas samples of friends and friends of friends may be generated by snow­ball sampling. Regardless of the method, the groups that we wish to compare may differ in many ways, including in various socio­economic aspects. For intercultural research, most good articles or books discuss this issue (see, e.g., Johnson & Tuttle, 1989; Tafoya, 1984; van de Vijver & Leung, 1997). Social class, ethnicity, and other demographic dif­ferences are likely to affect the social norms people use for creating, responding to, manag­ing, and interpreting conflict.