Unit 3B_Population and Sample

John wants to find out which types of music are the most popular at his school. Which of the following groups is the most representative sample for him to survey?

• 25 students waiting in line for a concert

• 25 students in the gym

• 5 students waiting in line for a concert

• 5 students in the gym

Customers at a bakery were invited to complete a brief survey to rate their experiences there. One day, 48 customers chose to complete the survey. Which statement best explains why this was probably NOT a representative sample?

• The sample size was too small.

• The sample size was too large.

• The sample included only those people who chose to complete the survey.

• The sample included only those people who were customers at the bakery.

The top three finishers in a marathon completed a 7-question survey about the race conditions. Which is the most likely cause of bias in the survey results?

• The survey was completed after the race.

• The survey included only 7 questions.

• The survey was completed by the top finishers in the race.

• The survey was given to people who completed the race.

The students in a statistics class want to know which professional baseball team is the most popular at their school. The student population at the school is 955. Which method would provide the most accurate representation of the students' choices?

• Go to each first period class and choose three students to interview.

• Ask all the students in the statistics class to vote on the issue.

• Allow students to come and vote in the classroom after school.

• Write the names of all students on cards, mix them up, and choose fifty to interview.

Mr. Smith chose a random group of sixth-grade students. He asked them to write down the amount of money left in their school lunch accounts. Their responses are listed below.

$25.00, $34.60, $31.75, $14.10, $19.50, $20.50, $8.75, $13.80

What inference can Mr. Smith make by using this sample?

• Half of the students in the sixth grade have at least $20.00 in their lunch accounts.

• One sixth-grade student has more than $35 in his or her lunch account.

• All of the sixth-grade students have more than $10 in their lunch accounts.

• The mean amount in the lunch accounts of sixth graders is $24.00

Mr. Dopp is the owner at a coffee shop and bakery, and he would like to add a new dessert to his menu. He decides to conduct a survey in order to help him make the decision about what type of dessert to add. Which of the following sampling techniques should Mr. Dopp use in order to obtain the most representative sample of survey respondents?

• Mr. Dopp should ask all the guests at the coffee shop who order vanilla cake for dessert.

• Mr. Dopp should ask all the children who visit the business over the course of a week.

• Mr. Dopp should ask at least one hundred randomly-chosen guests at the business over the course of a week.

• Mr. Dopp should ask one table of guests during lunch and one table of guests during dinner.

A manufacturer of basketball shoes made the claim below.

"Our basketball shoes are more popular among players than any other shoe."

Which method most strongly supports the validity of this claim?

• Five randomly selected players prefer our shoes.

• Players from ten randomly selected teams prefer our shoes.

• Players from two different teams wear our shoes.

• One thousand randomly chosen basketball fans prefer our shoes.