Question

A primary school, of 100 students, is trying to investigate which is their students'

favourite toy.
The students are sitting in the assembly hall in 10 rows of 10 students.
The head selects the 10th student at random from the first row and then every 10th
student afterwards for an interview.
What type of sampling is this?
Explain in the comment box if the resulting sample is likely to be biased or not.

Answer 1

The sampling method is systematic sampling, where every 10th student is chosen. However, this method may lead to a biased sample if there are patterns in the seating arrangement that correlate with toy preferences.

Step-by-step explanation:

The type of sampling used by the primary school head who selects the 10th student from the first row and then every 10th student afterward for an interview is systematic sampling. In systematic sampling, a sample is chosen by selecting a starting point and then picking every kth element in the population. In this case, the starting point is the 10th student in the first row, and every 10th student is then selected.

The resulting sample, however, may not be representative of the entire student body and thus can be biased. If there's any sort of pattern among students in their seating arrangement that correlates with their toy preferences (such as friends who share interests sitting in the same areas), this could bias the results. For instance, if students who prefer certain types of toys tend to sit at the ends of rows, they may be overrepresented or underrepresented in the sample.