Purposive sampling focuses only on participants that share the particular characteristic that the researcher wants to study in the larger population.

An example of purposive sampling would be a research project studying homeownership among senior citizens in the United States. While the researcher might ask random people in the United States a set of homeownership questions, this would not adequately answer the specific research question. In this case, the researcher would want to create a sample group where every participant was a senior citizen. In this case, the researcher is using purposive sampling to focus on the particular group they want to study.