A convenience sample is the arbitrary selection of respondents for a study, based on simple opportunity rather than a rigorous quest for representativeness of the larger population. This non-probability sampling method involves choosing participants who are easily accessible to the researcher, such as students in a classroom or people walking by on the street. While convenience samples are easy and cost-effective to obtain, they are often not representative of the broader population, which limits the generalizability of the research findings. Despite this limitation, convenience samples are frequently used in much applied social research with practical applications, where the primary goal is to gather preliminary data or explore specific issues rather than to make broad generalisations. They can also be useful for pilot studies or when time and resources are limited.