Abstract:

The domain of higher education is characterized nowadays by an increasing competition between all its competing players (especially in countries which do not have a mature market in this domain; example: Romania). Due to this fact it is obvious that gathering as many information as possible, regarding all surrounding environment (partners, competitors, clients) is of great importance for each university. In these conditions market research becomes an extremely useful and powerful instrument. Conducting a market research based on probabilistic sampling methods is very difficult and expensive in this domain also and this is why non probabilistic, online sampling methods appear as very tempting and probably efficient solutions. The main topic of this paper consists of proposing a set of methods that will definitely diminish the disadvantages of non probabilistic online sampling methods (in domain of higher education). Applying such methods will increase results’ (of a study based on an online sample) reliability by reducing their bias from ones obtained with a pure probabilistic method.