2) Sampling Methods and Biases A political analysis firm wishes to determine the

Question

2) Sampling Methods and Biases A political analysis firm wishes to determine the public’s perceptions of two local candidates for a city office. They obtain the names and addresses of all registered voters in the city and mail out a postcard asking them to respond if they wish to participate in the poll. Any individual wishing to participate is contacted by phone and asked two questions. The first is if they are planning to vote in the election, and the second is which of the two candidates they plan to vote for in the election. Results are recorded and tallied. a) Is this a Simple Random Sample? Explain. b) Might this accurately represent the relative popularity of the candidates? Why? c) What sources of Bias might exist here? d) Suggest a few ways to improve the sample and study.

Explanation / Answer

a)

Here, they are checking names and addresses of each and every registered voter. Hence, this is not a case of simple random sampling.

b)

As they are asking for the opinion of the voters about their probable candidate, this might accurately represent the relative popularity of the candidates.

c)

People might not disclose or wrongly disclose their probable candidate (For ex: - They might want to vote for A but might disclose B at the time of survey)

d)

They can probably send out a postcard telling them about the benefits of voting and also ask them (in the postcard itself) about their probable candidate rather than making a phone call.

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