6.

4
SELECT AND DRAW
CONCLUSIONS FROM
SAMPLES

Important Vocabulary

Population A group of people or

objects that you want information about
Sample a subset of the population
Unbiased Sample representative of
the population you want information
about
Biased Sample A sample that
underrepresents of over represents part
of a population

Types of Samples

Self-Selected Members of the

population can volunteer to be in the
sample
Systematic a RULE is used to select
member of a population
Convenience Easy to reach members
of a population are selected
Random Each member of a population
has an equal chance of being selected

Identifying Samples

A business reporter wants to survey workers

about where they eat lunch during a typical work
week. Identify the type of sample described.

A) The reporter writes a column asking workers

to call a special phone number and identify
where they eat lunch during a typical work week.
Self Selected

B) The reporter asks everyone in the newsroom

where they eat lunch during a typical work week.
Convenience

A real estate agent wants to know if firsttime home buyers used the Internet to
research home listings. The real-estate
agent calls every fifth first-time home buyer
and asks them if they used the Internet to
research home listings. Identify the type of
sample described
- Systematic

1. A team wants to know who the fans think was the teams
most valuable player during the season. Fans can vote on the
teams website.
- Self Selected (Unbiased/Biased)
2.The managers of a movie theater chain want to find the
number of movies people in the community usually see in a
theater each month. The managers have the ticket sellers at
each theater survey customers when they purchase their
tickets.
- Convenience (Biased)
3. The managers of a company with 500 employees want to
know how the employees feel about some proposed changes
to employee policies. The managers use a computer to
generate a list of 50 employees to survey from a database
that includes all of the employees.
- Random (Unbiased)

4. A consumer advocacy group wants to know if car

owners believe their car is reliable. The group randomly
selects 1020 car owners and mails out a survey to each
one.
- Random/Self Selected? (Unbiased)
5. A grocery store wants to know which day of the week
consumers prefer to do their grocery shopping. Everyone
who shops at the store on Friday is asked which day of
the week they prefer to do their grocery shopping.
- Convenience (Biased)
6. A survey of students favorite school subjects is being
conducted. Every other student in the math club is asked
Which school subject is your favorite?
- Systematic (Biased)

Margin of Error

Gives a limit on how much the

responses of a sample would differ from
the responses of a population.
As sample size increases, the margin of
error decreases.

1
M.O.E. =
n

Find the Margin of Error

Given the Sample Size
1.) 7103
= +/- 1.2 %
2.) 5700
= +/- 1.3%
3.) 12,000
= +/- 0.9%

Find the Sample Size

Given the Margin of Error
1.) 1.2%
= 6944 People
2.) 4.6%
= 473 People

A survey claims that the percent of an entire

population that agrees with redeveloping the city
park is likely between 49.1% and 57.5%. The
remainder of the people in the survey were
against redevelopment.
a.) How many people were surveyed?
- about 567 People
b.) Find the interval that is likely to contain the
exact percent of people in the population against
redevelopment.
- Between 42.5% and 50.9%

6.5 Surveys, Experiments &

Observational Studies

Experiment Imposes a treatment on

individuals in order to collect data on
their response to the treatment
Controlled has two groups with identical

conditions except one variable

Control Group (ordinary conditions) vs Treatment

Group (subject to variable)

Randomized Comparative Experiment individuals
are randomly assigned to control or treatment group.

Vocab. Continued.

Observational Study observes

individuals and measures variables
without controlling the individuals or their
environment.

Biased Questions Questions that lead

to inaccurate results

Explain the Bias

A survey question asks, Are you in favor of
closing the library, our towns most historic
and valuable resource, one day a week to
reduce taxes? Tell why the question may be
biased or otherwise introduce bias into the
survey. Describe a way to correct the flaw.
Answer - The wording of the question implies that closing the
library one day a week is the wrong thing to do. A better
question is Are you in favor of closing the library one day a
week to reduce taxes?

Experiment vs. Observational

Study
1. A professional painter wants to determine whether a paint additive will eliminate
brush and roller marks on walls. She paints 2 walls with the additive and 2 walls
without the additive without knowing which paint contains the additive.
Experiment

2. A veterinarian studies the effectiveness of a flea-and-tick protection that is

applied to dogs once a month by monitoring 50 randomly selected dogs that
already use the protection and 50 randomly selected dogs that do not use the
protection
Observational Study
3. You want to know if students in your class will finish their math homework faster
if they are allowed to use calculators.
Experiment
4. You want to know if grocery stores in the city have higher prices than grocery
stores in suburbs of the city.
Observational Study