Suppose you want to conduct a survey to determine who is most likely to win the next presidential election.Which of the following would be considered to be a representative (unbiased) sample?
A)1,000 likely voters who called in to a local radio talk show.
B)1,000 likely voters who returned surveys sent to everyone on a Democrat or Republican newsletter mailing list.
C)1,000 likely voters who replied to an Internet website survey.
D)None of these would be considered to be representative samples.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

None of these options would be considered to be representative samples because they all have some form of bias. Option A only includes people who listen to a local radio talk show, which may not represent the broader population. Option B only includes people who subscribe to a Democrat or Republican mailing list, which introduces political bias. Option C only includes people who are willing to respond to an internet survey, which may not represent the broader population. A representative sample would need to be randomly selected from the entire population of likely voters.

Suppose You Want to Conduct a Survey to Determine Who