AP Statistics : How to define a survey population
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : How To Conduct A Sample Survey
A company asks you to conduct a survey to discover what consumers generally want. What should the survey population be?
Past consumers
All possible consumers
All of the company's customers
Future consumers
All possible consumers
The company wants a survey on what consumers want. That means they are interested in all possible consumers. The other groups are too specific.
Example Question #1 : How To Conduct A Sample Survey
Your AP Statistics teacher asks you to conduct a survey to determine the most popular cereal brand at your high school. Which of the following should be the survey population in your study?
All high school students in the United States
Students in your grade level
All high school students in your city
Students in your AP Statistics Class
All students in your high school
All students in your high school
Since your teacher has asked that you determine the most popular cereal brand at your high school, the survey population should be limited to only your high school. Other students' preferences of cereal brands around the nation will have no impact on the survey results.
Additionally, surveying only students in your AP Statistics class or only students in a particular grade level would not be representative of all students in your high school. Therefore, the correct survey population is all students in your high school.
Example Question #1 : How To Conduct A Sample Survey
Shawn would like to determine what the most popular television channel is in his town, called Hearne.
Which of the following would be an appropriate target population for the survey?
Residents of the town whose contact information can be found in the local directory
Students at the local high school
Purchasers of a television at the local electronics store
Attendees of a mass at a local Church
Shoppers at the local grocery store
Residents of the town whose contact information can be found in the local directory
Since Shawn would like to know the most popular television channel in his town, he must include all residents of the town in his target population. The sample must come from the directory and each person in the directory should have an equal chance of being selected. The incorrect options are too narrowly focused and are not representative of the town.
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