14 While shopping 200 people are asked to perform a taste te

14. While shopping, 200 people are asked to perform a taste test in which they are drinking from two randomly placed, unmarked cups. They are then asked which drink they prefer.

Answer:

16. Conservation agents netted 250 large-mouth bass in a lake and determined how many were carrying parasites.

Answer:

Section 1.5

14-16. The surveys have a bias. (a) Determine the type of bias. (b) Suggest a remedy.

14. A textbook publisher wants to determine what percentage of college professors either require or recommend that their students purchase textbook packages with supplemental materials, such as study guides, digital media, and online tools. The publisher sends out surveys by email to a random sample of 320 faculty members who have registered with its website and have agreed to receive solicitations. The publisher reports that 80% of college professors require or recommend that students purchase some type of textbook package.

Answer:

20. Order of Questions: Consider the following two questions:

(a) Do you believe that the government should or shouldn’t be allowed to prohibit individuals from expressing their religious beliefs at their place of employment?

(b) Do you believe that the government should or should not be allowed to prohibit teachers from expressing their religious beliefs in public school classrooms?

Do you think the order in which the questions are asked will affect the survey results? If so, what can the pollster do to alleviate this response bias? Discuss the choice of the word prohibit in the survey question.

Solution

14. While the cups are randomized by being unmarked, the people chosen while shopping are not randomized. It is important to first randomly select the shoppers and than randomize the order of two cups while being unmarked.

16. The 250 large-mouth bass in a lake are all inspected if they were carrying parasites. There is no randomization at all. Also, the areas of the lake needs to randomized too to select the large-mouth bass.

14. (again the number is repeated). The publisher sends out email to the college professors who are all registered with its website. Instead, the publisher needs to first have the list of all the college progessors with their email ID and irrespective of whether they are registered on its website, they need to be reached out with the relevant survey.

20. The order of question certainly affect the survey results. \"School classrooms\" are also place of employment and hence the particular case should be asked before the general problem. The word \"prohibit\" should be replaced by \"prevent\" as strong words should be avoided as much as possible to keep the response neutral.