The owner of a plant nursery will conduct a study to investigate whether a new fertilizer is more effective than an older fertil
izer in helping the growth of young tomato seedlings. The owner selects a simple random sample of 50 young tomato seedlings from all the young tomato seedlings in the nursery. Half of the selected seedlings will be randomly assigned to receive the new fertilizer, and the remaining seedlings will receive the older fertilizer. The growth of the seedlings will be recorded for the next month. What is the main reason in the study for selecting a simple random sample from the population?
2. A random sample will be more representative of the whole population.
3. Allows the researcher to determine the efficacy of the fertilizer.
Explanation:
Selecting a simple random simple from a large population is a widely used method in science. Researchers select a random sample so every individual, in this case seedling, has an equal chance to be selected.
Therefore, it is an accurate method that, although is not free from errors, avoids or reduces the probability of sampling bias. Selecting a truly random tomato seedling will be more representative of the whole population of seedling instead of selecting carefully a seedling that already has specific or desired characteristics. Hence, this random sampling will allow the researcher to determine the efficacy of the fertilizer.
