Question

The administration at a school wants to know the proportion of students that did all of their homework last night. They select a simple random sample of 100 students and send an email to each of them asking if they did all of their homework. Of the 40 responses, 36 of the students said they did all of their homework (90%).

What is wrong with this survey?

Answer 1

The survey about homework completion is flawed due to non-response bias, as only 40 out of 100 students contacted responded to the survey, potentially skewing the results.

Step-by-step explanation:

The survey conducted by the school administration is flawed due to non-response bias since only 40 out of the 100 students selected responded, which may not be representative of the entire population.

Non-response bias occurs when there is a significant difference between those who chose to respond and those who did not. The 90% figure obtained from the 40 responders does not necessarily reflect the true proportion of students who completed their homework because the sample may not be representative of the entire student body.

Those who did their homework might have been more likely to respond to the survey, skewing the results. To mitigate this bias, the school could follow up with non-respondents, or use different data collection methods that encourage a higher response rate.