You want to conduct a survey to find out what sport the students at your school prefer to play.
a) You interview 20 boys playing football at lunch. Is this a random sample? Explain.
b) The survey question you ask is, “What is your favorite sport to play?” Is the question fair or biased? Explain.
a) No, this is not a random sample because only boys playing football at lunch are being interviewed, and not all students at the school have an equal chance of being selected for the survey.
b) The question is fair because it simply asks for the student’s favorite sport to play, without any indication of which sport is preferred over others or any leading language.
THANK YEWWW
You're welcome! Happy to help!
a) No, interviewing 20 boys playing football at lunch is not a random sample. A random sample means that each individual in the population has an equal chance of being selected for the survey. In this case, by only interviewing boys playing football, you are only capturing the preferences of a specific group within the school, namely those who play football. To obtain a random sample, you would need to ensure that all students at the school have an equal chance of being selected for the survey, regardless of their gender or current sports activities. This could be done by using a random selection method such as drawing names from a hat or using a computer-generated random number generator to select participants.
b) The survey question, "What is your favorite sport to play?" can be considered fair because it allows each individual to express their own preference. The question does not impose any restrictions or bias towards a particular sport. However, it is important to note that the question is specifically asking about the favorite sport to play, which may not necessarily reflect the most popular or most commonly played sport among the students. To gather a more comprehensive understanding of sports preferences, additional questions or options could be included in the survey to capture a wider range of responses.