Question

Professor kramer has decided to measure how happy his students are with his teaching this semester. he is teaching two classes this semester-psychology and law and introduction to neuroscience. he gives his students a survey. in the above scenario, dr. kramer needs to avoid which of the following if he hopes to avoid having a biased sample? select one

a. sampling only those students who come to class frequently
b. sampling only those students who volunteer to complete the survey
c. sampling only those students who sign the consent form
d. sampling only those students who finish the survey

Answer 1

To avoid a biased sample in his survey, Dr. Kramer should not solely sample students who are frequent class attendees, who volunteer, who consent, or who complete the survey, as these methods could introduce bias into survey results.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario presented, Dr. Kramer needs to avoid having a biased sample by not exclusively sampling students based on certain criteria that could skew the results. If he wants to obtain a representative sample of his students' opinions on his teaching, he should avoid the following to minimize bias:

• Sampling only those students who come to class frequently
• Sampling only those students who volunteer to complete the survey
• Sampling only those students who sign the consent form
• Sampling only those students who finish the survey

Each of these methods could introduce a bias. For instance, students who attend class more may have a different perspective than those who do not, or those who volunteer for the survey might have more positive or more negative views than the general student population.