Question

Tia, from the blog "Talk to Tia," asked her readers, "If you had to do it over again, would you take more college prep courses in high school?" Of the 1,500 readers who responded, 65% said no. What does this show?

A. No meaningful conclusion is possible without knowing something more about the characteristics of her readers.
B. The survey would have been more meaningful if Tia had picked a random sample of the readers who responded.
C. The survey is meaningless because of voluntary response bias.
D. The survey would have been more meaningful if Tia had used a control group. E.This was a legitimate sample, drawn randomly from her readers, and is of adequate size to allow the conclusion that most of Tia's readers who are college-bound high school students would not have taken more college prep courses.

Answer 1

The survey is meaningless because of voluntary response bias.

Explanation:

Answer 2

C) The survey is meaningless because of voluntary response bias.

Explanation:

Voluntary response bias happens when the people that are surveyed volunteer themselves to answer the questions. Only people with a strong opinion, either in favor or against, tend to offer themselves as voluntary subjects.

This same problem happens when radio or TV hosts decide to solicit their audience participation, only people with strong feelings will participate since it is optional. People that are relatively indifferent to the subject will not participate in the survey. This is why most voluntary surveys tend to lean towards extreme answers.