Discuss the advantages of convenience samples and when it is appropriate to use them

What will be an ideal response?

Convenience sampling is the least expensive and least time consuming of all sampling techniques. The sampling units are accessible, easy to measure, and cooperative. In spite of these advantages, this form of sampling has serious limitations. Many potential sources of selection bias are present, including respondent self-selection. Convenience samples are not representative of any definable population. Hence, it is not theoretically meaningful to generalize to any population from a convenience sample, and convenience samples are not appropriate for marketing research projects involving population inferences. Convenience samples are not recommended for descriptive or causal research, but they can be used in exploratory research for generating ideas, insights, or hypotheses. Convenience samples can be used for focus groups, pretesting questionnaires, or pilot studies. Even in these cases, caution should be exercised in interpreting the results. Nevertheless, this technique is sometimes used even in large surveys.