PROBLEM 2 The head of the HR department of a large company wants to conduct a su

Question

PROBLEM 2 The head of the HR department of a large company wants to conduct a survey to estimate the proportion of the employees who are satisfied with their working conditions. He considers tree methods of obtaining a sample of 50 employees from the 3000 employees of the company. 1. The first method the head of the HR department is considering is sending an email to the corporate mail list containing the survey and include in the sample the answers of the first 50 employees who will reply. Explain why this method will not produce a simple random sample 2. Because stratification can often provide a more precise estimate than a simple random sample, the second method consists of selecting a stratified sample of 50 employees. Name at least 2 reasonable criteria how the employees of the company can be divided into strata

Explanation / Answer

1. The first method has already pre-defined the people who would be selected for the sample so there is no unbiasedness in selecting the sample and hence in no place this could be a random sample. In could have been a simple random sample if instead of selecting the first 50 employees the sample could be selecting any 50 employees from the total employees who has replied to the survey.

2. The two criteria that can be taken to form the strata will be the period of service rendered to the company and the compensation given to them. The period of service should be taken since this involves the employees who are new joinees, who worked for few years, who worked for some more years and who has worked for longer period. The replies given by the mixture of all these strata will be more useful in getting an unbiased estimate of employee satisfaction. While compensation is also a leading factor here since some employees getting less pay will tend to give negative remarks for questions asked and not from the perspective of the working conditions under which he/she is working. It will also tend to remove the remove the biasedness in the answers given by the highly paid employees who would tend to give positive answers. Overall a mixture of sample from each strata will give a good sample of 50 employees and hence a good estimate for the working conditions of the company.

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