Question

A maple sugar manufacturer wants to estimate the average trunk diameter of Sugar Maples trees in a large forest. There are too many trees to list them all and take a SRS, so he divides the forest into several hundred 10 meter by 10 meter plots, selects 25 plots at random, and measures the diameter of every Sugar Maple in each one. This is an example of a _______.

a. multistage sample
b. stratified sample
c. simple random sample
d. cluster sample
e. convenience sample

Answer 1

The sampling method where the forest is divided into plots and a random selection of those plots have every Sugar Maple measured is an example of cluster sampling.

Step-by-step explanation:

The situation you've described, where a maple sugar manufacturer divides a large forest into several hundred 10 meter by 10 meter plots and then selects 25 plots at random to measure the trunk diameter of every Sugar Maple in each one, is an example of a cluster sample. In cluster sampling, the population is divided into clusters (in this case, the 10m x 10m plots), and a random selection of these clusters is made. All members (Sugar Maple trees, in this situation) within the chosen clusters are then studied. This method is different from a simple random sample (SRS) where each individual in the population has an equal chance of being selected, and different from a stratified sample which involves dividing the population into strata and sampling each stratum proportionally.

Answer 2

d. cluster sample

Step-by-step explanation:

Cluster sampling is characterized as a sampling method which various clusters of individuals are generated from a population where they are representative of homogeneous features and have equal opportunities to be component of the sample.

A simple random sample is generated from the various clusters in the population in this sampling method.