Snowball sampling

One of the methods of non probability sampling procedure and a variant of judgment sampling that relies on the researcher’s ability to locate an initial set of respondents with the desired characteristics; these individuals are then used as informants to identify still others with the desired characteristics. Even though probability sampling is used to select the initial respondents, the final sample is a Nonprobability sample. A major objective of snowball sampling is to estimate characteristics that are rare in the population.