Question

Imagine you were conducting a survey at your school to determine how many students are in favor of a fee increase to support the athletics program. Place the following methods of sample selection in order from those introducing the most to least amount of selection bias.?

Answer 1

a) Randomly select student names from a student roster and personally e-mail them, offering an incentive to participate.

b) Stand outside the athletic center and ask students to complete the survey.

c) Stand in the student cafeteria and ask students to complete the survey.

d) Stand in the student cafeteria and ask them to complete the survey.

e) Distribute the survey via e-mail to all students.

Stand outside the athletic center and ask students to complete the survey.

Stand in the student cafeteria and ask students to complete the survey.

Distribute the survey via e-mail to all students.

Randomly select student names from a student roster and personally e-mail them, offering an incentive to participate.

Answer: Options B, C, E and A.

Explanation:

Sampling is important because it is impossible to (observe, interview, survey, etc.) an entire population. When surveying, however, it is vital to ensure the people in your sample reflect the population or else you will get misleading results.

There are many methods through which sample can be selected to collect the data which is required for the investigation. Some of the methods are simple random, stratified, cluster sampling, systematic random sampling and so on.