Final answer:
Students who post on ratemyprofessor.com are a volunteer sample, chosen by the individuals themselves rather than by a random or systematic process.
Step-by-step explanation:
The sample of students who post responses on ratemyprofessor.com is a volunteer sample. This is because individuals choose to provide their feedback on their own accord, rather than being randomly selected by researchers. A volunteer sample is commonly used in various survey-based research studies, but it may not represent the entire population due to the self-selection bias of the respondents.
In contrast, with a randomly selected sample, each member of the population has an equal chance of being included, thereby minimizing certain biases and potentially leading to more representative results. Nevertheless, volunteer samples like the one on ratemyprofessor.com can still provide valuable insights, particularly if the sample size is large and diverse.