How Many Interviews Are Enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability Export

@article{citeulike:1530721, abstract = {Guidelines for determining nonprobabilistic sample sizes are virtually nonexistent. Purposive samples are the most commonly used form of nonprobabilistic sampling, and their size typically relies on the concept of "saturation," or the point at which no new information or themes are observed in the data. Although the idea of saturation is helpful at the conceptual level, it provides little practical guidance for estimating sample sizes, prior to data collection, necessary for conducting quality research. Using data from a study involving sixty in-depth interviews with women in two West African countries, the authors systematically document the degree of data saturation and variability over the course of thematic analysis. They operationalize saturation and make evidence-based recommendations regarding nonprobabilistic sample sizes for interviews. Based on the data set, they found that saturation occurred within the first twelve interviews, although basic elements for metathemes were present as early as six interviews. Variability within the data followed similar patterns. 10.1177/1525822X05279903}, author = {Guest, Greg and Bunce, Arwen and Johnson, Laura}, citeulike-article-id = {1530721}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://fmx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/18/1/59}, day = {1}, doi = {10.1177/1525822X05279903}, journal = {Field Methods}, keywords = {interviews, qualitative, saturation}, month = {February}, number = {1}, pages = {59--82}, posted-at = {2009-09-03 14:56:09}, priority = {2}, title = {How Many Interviews Are Enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903}, volume = {18}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1530721 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1530721 N2 - Guidelines for determining nonprobabilistic sample sizes are virtually nonexistent. Purposive samples are the most commonly used form of nonprobabilistic sampling, and their size typically relies on the concept of "saturation," or the point at which no new information or themes are observed in the data. Although the idea of saturation is helpful at the conceptual level, it provides little practical guidance for estimating sample sizes, prior to data collection, necessary for conducting quality research. Using data from a study involving sixty in-depth interviews with women in two West African countries, the authors systematically document the degree of data saturation and variability over the course of thematic analysis. They operationalize saturation and make evidence-based recommendations regarding nonprobabilistic sample sizes for interviews. Based on the data set, they found that saturation occurred within the first twelve interviews, although basic elements for metathemes were present as early as six interviews. Variability within the data followed similar patterns. 10.1177/1525822X05279903 IS - 1 JF - Field Methods EP - 82 TI - How Many Interviews Are Enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability VL - 18 SP - 59 KW - interviews KW - qualitative KW - saturation AU - Guest, Greg AU - Bunce, Arwen AU - Johnson, Laura PY - 2006/02/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903 ER -