Question

A sample of households in a community is selected at random from the telephone directory. In this community, 2% of households have no telephone, 14% have only cell phones, and another 25% have unlisted telephone numbers. The sample will certainly suffer from

A. nonresponse.
B. false responses.
C. undercoverage.
D. None of the above.

Answer 1

c) Undercoverage

Explanation:

We say that a sample has undercoverage when some members of it have zero chance of being selected for the sample.

In this particular example, the sample will be selected from the telephone directory, however, 41% ( 25 + 14 + 2) of the people who live in this community are not listed in the telephone directory, therefore, they have zero chance of being selected.