Final answer:
Surveying students at a football game about their favorite sport using every 5th attendee is not a representative sample due to selection bias towards football fans. A representative sample must be unbiased and include all segments of the school population.
Step-by-step explanation:
You want to find out which sport the students at your school like the best, and you ask every 5th student entering the main gate at the first football game about their favorite sport. This is not a representative sample of the students at your school. The correct answer is C: no, because the sample is biased—it only includes students who go to football games. By only surveying these students, the sample is likely to overrepresent those who prefer football, as they are the ones attending the game. A representative sample should include a variety of students from different backgrounds and with different interests to minimize selection bias.
When selecting a representative sample, it is essential to use a sampling method that ensures all individuals have an equal opportunity to be selected. This could be a random sample, where every person has the same chance of being included, or a stratified sample, where the population is divided into groups and a proportional number of individuals from each group is included. In the scenario provided, the sampling method is best described as convenience sampling, because it is opportunistic and not designed to represent the whole school population.