Creswell (2009) pointed out that a study’s target population refers to the total number of units or people that are projected to be used in drawing inferences regarding a given phenomenon under study. In the case of the currents study, the focus is on the academic performance of learners and hence, the study will target public secondary and elementary schools in the US. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2011), there are 98,817 public schools, 132, 183 K-12 schools and 13, 588 public district schools in the United States of America. Based on the scope of the study, such a target population will be suitable for comprehensive collection of data on cyberbullying.
The study will rely on the simple random sampling technique to arrive at the necessary sample size. A research conducted by Mitchel and Jolly (2010) showed that the application of the simple random sampling technique in any study allows for effective inclusiveness of study units or people, giving a researcher the chance of using a representative sample especially where a large sample group is involved. The elementary and secondary schools in United States of America have numerous schools and hence, there is a need for all the schools to have equal probability of representation. The absence of error classification and human bias in the simple random sampling technique makes it suitable for this study.
Additionally, the purposive sampling technique will be used to identify the various individuals to be interviewed. Creswell (2009) noted that the purposive sampling technique is highly dependent on the researcher’s judgment as far as the decision on the individuals to be involved in any study is concerned. In addition, this type of sampling technique will be used here since it fits studies that have a special emphasis on various characteristics of the target population, as evident in the case of the current study.
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