“Random sample” sounds like a noun, but it’s a choice. Convenience saves time… and buys bias. Stratified sampling protects the small groups you can’t afford to miss. Cluster sampling trades precision for practicality when travel (or time) is the bottleneck. None of these are magic; all of them are honest when you name them. The real mistake is pretending you sampled “everyone” when you didn’t. Pick the method that fits the constraints you actually have, write the choice in one blunt sentence, and collect what you can collect today. Sampling well is less about statistics than it is about integrity.
