Hattie Burford MATH 535- Sampling Techniques Exam 1

Dr. Stack

1. Can you reasonably generalize from the sample to the population? Explain.
A researcher uses this statistics class to get an estimate of the percentage of students at CSC who study
at least 2 hours a night.

Using this statistics class to get an estimate of the percentage of students at CSC who study at least two hours
a night is reasonable. In most of the classes at CSC there will be students who study, and students that don’t.
There are courses that may require more study hours than this class, and courses that may require less.
Therefore, I think that the range of study habits see in this class would be a reasonable representative of the
student population at CSC. However, I think the best way to get an estimate would be to get numerous
samples from different classes.

2. Can you reasonably generalize from the sample to the population? Explain.
A researcher uses the average annual income of ambassadors to the United Nations to get an estimate
of average per-capita income for the world as whole.

Using the average annual income of ambassadors to the United Nations to get an estimate of average per-
capita income for the world as a whole would not be reasonable. The annual income of ambassadors to the
United Nations is going to most likely be higher than the average person in the world. Furthermore, the
salaries for the ambassador to the United Nations are going to be somewhat similar, with not a lot of
difference. This is not an accurate representation of the income for the world.

3. Can you reasonably generalize from the sample to the population? Explain.
A Gallup poll sampled 235 U.S residents between the ages of 18 to 29, to estimate the percentage of all
US residents between the ages of 18 to 29 who favored cuts in social spending.

Using a Gallup poll that has sampled 235 U.S. residents between the ages of 18 to 29 to estimate the
percentage of U.S. residents between the ages of 18 to 29 who favored cuts in social spending is not
reasonable. There are millions of U.S. residents in this age group, therefore, a sample of 235 would not
provide a good representation of the age group for the whole nation. There would either need to be multiple
samples of this number, or one much larger sample.

4. Describe the type of sample selection bias that would result from the sampling method.
A researcher wants to determine the average size of farms in a county in Nebraska. He randomly throws
darts at a map of the county and uses the farms hit as the sample.

This may be a type of investigator bias because the researcher may be subconsciously throwing the darts to
specific parts of the map that he/she is familiar with, or interested in, etc. This would not allow the sample to
be a random sample, and would not be a good representation.
Hattie Burford MATH 535- Sampling Techniques Exam 1
Dr. Stack
5. Describe the type of sample selection bias that would result from the sampling method.
To estimate the percentage of students who passed the advanced placement statistics exam last year, a
teacher on a discussion board for teachers of AP statistics asked teachers to report on how many of their
students took the test and how many passed.

The results of this sample may not be a good representation of the population because this technique has a
nonresponse bias. Many of the AP Statistics teachers may not want to report that information, discuss it on
discussion board, may only post the high scores, etc. There would be no way to know if the teachers reported
the correct scores.

6. Describe the type of sample selection bias that would result from the sampling method. Ann Landers
conducted a poll on the marital happiness of women by asking women to write to her.

Again, this would be an example of nonresponse bias. Although Ann Landers may receive samples of both
sides of the spectrum, both happily married and unhappily married, there is no way to accurately conclude
that this would be a good representation of the population. Some women may not write to her, or they may
not want to divulge their true feelings.

7. A simple random sample of n = 100 water meters within a small community is monitored to estimate
the average daily water consumption per household over a specified time. The sample mean and sample
variance are found to be y-bar = 14.7 and s2 = 1356. If we assume that there are N=1000 households
within the community, estimate µ, the true mean daily consumption, and place a bound on the error of
estimation.
𝑠2 𝑁 − 𝑛 1356 1000 − 100
2√𝑣̂(𝑦̅) = 2√ ( ) = 2√ ( ) = 2√12.204 = 6.9868
𝑛 𝑁 100 1000
Thus, we estimate the mean daily consumption to be 14.7. The sample mean should possess approximately a
normal distribution, so that 14.7±6.99 is approximately a 95% confidence interval for the population mean.

8. A marketing research firm estimates the proportion of potential customers preferring a certain brand of
lipstick by selecting a sample of 100 women who come by their booth in a shopping mall on a specified
day. Of the 100 sampled, 65 women stated a preference for brand A.

a. What is the target population of this study?

The target population is women who wear lipstick.

b. Did the marketing research firm select a simple random sample?

No, this is not a simple random sample because they only sampled the women who came to their booth,
interested in lipstick. The would be considered convenience sampling, and there may be bias present, causing
the sample to be an inaccurate representation.
Hattie Burford MATH 535- Sampling Techniques Exam 1
Dr. Stack

c. Assume this is a random sample: How would you estimate the true proportion of women preferring brand
A with a bound on the error of estimation?

65
To estimate the true proportion of women preferring brand A: 𝑝̂ = = .65
100

In order to place a bound on the error of estimation, the population of women would need to be given. We
only know the number of women who preferred brand A, and the number of women sampled. We are not
given the population of women, N.

9. To reduce nonresponse bias, use a mail-in survey. True or False. Explain in a one sentence answer.

False. This would be an example of nonresponse bias because there are people that may not choose to
complete the survey and mail it back.

10. When finding the estimated total for a population, tau, the population must be finite. True or False.
Explain in a one sentence answer.

True. Tau=N𝑦̅, therefore, the population must be finite in order for this to be true.

11. The Nielsen company gathers information from 10,000 households, with approximately 30,000
individuals, to determine TV viewing information. The TV meters keep track of what TV show is “on”.
According to the information in the Nielsen curriculum, every household has an equal chance of being
selected.
What is the sampling frame? Explain in a one sentence answer.

The sampling frame is the 10,000 households, because this is the group that the sample is chosen from.

What is the sample? Explain in a one sentence answer.

The sample is the 30,000 individuals that the company has chosen to keep track of TV show preference.

12. The population mean would be called a parameter and the estimate of it would be called a statistic.
True or False?

True. The parameter describes the population, while a statistic describes the sample.

13. A researcher wants to determine the proportion of vehicles in the Denver area that are driven with
cracked windshields. The research team goes to the ten Denver International Airport (DIA) parking lots
(Valet West, Valet East, Short Term West, Short Term East, Garage West, Garage East, Economy Lot
West, Economy Lot East, Pikes Peak Shuttle Lot, Mt. Elbert Shuttle Lot) to record information. The
parking lots do not have the same number of total spaces. Five random rows are selected at each
parking lot. The number of vehicles in the row and the number with a crack in the windshield are
recorded.
Hattie Burford MATH 535- Sampling Techniques Exam 1
Dr. Stack

What is the population being studied?

The population being studied is vehicles in the Denver area, and the researcher wants to see the
proportion of those that are driven with cracked windshields.

What is the sampling technique?

The sampling technique used was a stratified simple random sample. The population, vehicles in the
Denver area, was partitioned into the groups Valet West, Valet East, Short Term West, Short Term East,
Garage West, Garage East, Economy Lot West, Economy Lot East, Pikes Peak Shuttle Lot, Mt. Elbert Shuttle
Lot. There was then a simple random sample taken from each of these, five random rows are selected at
each parking lot. Data was then collected from each sampling unit that was randomly sampled, the
number of vehicles in the row and the number with a crack in the windshield are recorded.

Discuss advantages and disadvantages of this plan.

Explain each question in one to two sentences.

The first disadvantage that I saw was that if the researcher wanted to know the proportion of cracked
windshields driving around the Denver area, the sampling frame should have been more than the parking
lots at DIA, because these lots are not necessarily vehicles in Denver area. The other disadvantage that I
noticed was that there were not the same number of total spaces at each lot, therefore, there was not an
equally likely chance of a car being chosen from one lot to another.
An advantage of this plan is that there would be a large sample of cars to choose from, and the technique
would be an easy one to carry out since the cars are all readily available.

14. Often data will be provided in a frequency table. Use the formula for E(y) and V(y) to determine the
mean and variance for the data in the following frequency table.

Show your work and answers for mean and variance.

Mean: 𝐸(𝑦) = ∑𝑦(𝑝(𝑦)) = 5(. 25) + 6(. 15) + 7(. 25) + 8(. 1) + 9(. 25) = 6.95

Variance: 𝑉(𝑦) == ∑(𝑦 − 𝜇)2 𝑝(𝑦) = ((5 − 6.95)2 )(. 25) + ((6 − 6.95)2 )(. 15) + ((7 − 6.95)2 )(. 25) +
((8 − 6.95)2 )(. 10) + ((9 − 6.95)2 )(.25) = 2.1367
Hattie Burford MATH 535- Sampling Techniques Exam 1
Dr. Stack
15. Find the covariance:

% Economic Growth % (Y1) S&P Returns % (Y2)

1 2.1 8
2 2.5 12
3 4.0 14
4 3.6 10
Means 3.05 11

(2.1 − 3.05)(8 − 11) + (2.5 − 3.05)(12 − 11) + (4.0 − 3.05)(14 − 11) + (3.6 − 3.05)(10 − 11)
𝑐𝑜𝑣(𝑦1 , 𝑦2 ) =
4−1
= 1.53̅

Does Economic Growth have a positive or negative relationship? Would you consider it to be a strong
relationship? Explain.

Economic Growth has a positive relationship; therefore, economic growth and S&P returns will tend to
increase or decrease together. Yes, with the covariance of 1.53, I would consider this a strong relationship.

16. The XYZ County Health Department wants to estimate the proportion of county residents who got a flu
shot last year. They want the information within a month’s time. Potential methods for data collection
are: personal interviews at the resident’s home; telephone interviews using numbers randomly selected
from the residential listings in the DEX phone book; a questionnaire mailed to a random sample of
household addresses from the county assessor’s list.
Identify the method you feel would be the best. Explain why it would be better than the other choices.
What are some potential problems with the method you recommend?

I feel that telephone interviews would be best to estimate the proportion of county residents who got a flu
shot last year. First, it would not require travel, and would be much less expensive than personal interviews at
resident’s homes. Second, if a resident doesn’t “respond” by answering the phone, the number can be tried
again, whereas a mailed questionnaire can result in nonresponse bias more easily. Some potential problems
with this method are phone numbers that are no longer in service, people unwilling to answer questions, and
people unwilling to respond honestly over the telephone. Lastly, many people may not have home phone
numbers anymore.

17. Suppose you have been asked to develop a survey to be administered to CSC students about their use of
college library resources. Both online and campus-based students will be surveyed. The library is
particularly interested in determining if the peer-reviewed journal collection meets the needs of
students. List 4 potential questionnaire items and explain how the information from them would be
used.

1. Are you an online or campus based student? This would allow the library to see who accessing the
resources, and would allow them to see the difference in these answers based on the student.
2. How often do you use CSC library resources to access the peer-reviewed journal collection?
Hattie Burford MATH 535- Sampling Techniques Exam 1
Dr. Stack
Using the scale: Never Not Often Often Very Often All the time
This would provide information on how often the resources are used, and they would be abe to
compare online vs. on-campus.
3. How easy is it to access the peer-reviewed journal collection?
Using the scale: Impossible Very Difficult Not Difficult Easy Very Easy
This would allow the library to determine if the collection process needs to be updated, made more
available, etc.
4. Name one way in which the CSC Library can make the peer-reviewed journal collection more useful.
Here, students will be able to provide feedback that may be useful to the library to improve and meet
the needs of the students. It may highlight a need of the students that the library was unaware of.

18. Results of a survey. Do your peers care about staying in school to get a high school diploma? The results
are organized by the respondent's GPA.

GPA >3.5 2.5<GPA<=3.5 1.5<GPA<=2.5 GPA<=1.5 total

A lot 721 269 75 86 1151
Somewhat 248 186 11 110 555
A little 74 54 3 30 161
Don't care 189 155 12 131 487
total 1232 664 101 357 2354

a. What proportion of those with a GPA >3.5 think their peers care a lot about staying in school and
getting a HS diploma?

721
= .5852
1232

b. What proportion of those with a GPA <=1.5 think their peers care a lot about staying in school
and getting a HS diploma?

86
= .2409
357

c. Among those who think their peers care a lot about staying in school and getting a HS diploma,
what proportion have a GPA>3.5?

721
= .6264
1151

d. Among those who think their peers don’t care about staying in school and getting a HS diploma,
have a GPA>3.5?

189
= .3881
487
Hattie Burford MATH 535- Sampling Techniques Exam 1
Dr. Stack
e. Do you think that the perceived peer attitude towards staying in school and getting a HS diploma
is associated with the student’s GPA? What proportions help justify your answer?

Yes, I think the perceived attitude is associated with the student’s GPA because among those who think their
peers care a lot about staying in school and getting a HS diploma, the proportion that have a GPA>3.5 was
.6264. The proportion that have a 2.5<GPA<=3.5 was .2337, 1.5<GPA<=2.5 was .0652, and GPA<=1.5 was
.0747. These proportions were all significantly lower than those of the students with a GPA of over 3.5.