Question

A candidate to the presidency wants to know what percentage of the registered voters in the country would vote for him. So, he gives the task to one of his aides and tells him he has 3 days to come up with the results.

Describe a method the aide should use to complete the task on time and which provides meaningful data. Use size or the sample, population of interest, and method of selection to complete your answer.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

The presidential aide, can first of all gather information on all registered voters in the country. The aide can then go deeper and check if these voters are registered as republicans, Democrats or independents.

This can quickly give some idea of what to expect in the coming election. Historical data can also be used to judge the percentage of independent voters who might swing to either side in the last few days.

Answer 2

While 3 days is not enough, a person can use a simple method to achieve close to accurate results.

The presidential aide, can first of all gather information on all registered voters in the country. The aide can then go deeper and check if these voters are registered as republicans, Democrats or independents.

This can quickly give some idea of what to expect in the coming election. Historical data can also be used to judge the percentage of independent voters who might swing to either side in the last few days.

An even more accurate picture can be developed by using Sample Data.

Sample data can be made of 1,000-3,000 respondents, which represents the demographic make up of the country in terms of incomes, race, domicile. etc

This sample data should then be asked a simple question on who they would vote for.

The more accurate the sample data is, the better results the aide will be able to get.

The aide should also calculate the % margin of error with such an exercise.