Question

Three park rangers had to report on the ways visitors use their facilities. Each ranger surveyed a sample of park visitors. Determine whether or not each sampling described is random or biased.

Answer 1

Answer: Depending on the situation

Step-by-step explanation: For a sample to be random, everyone/thing has to have an equal chance of getting selected. Ex. One of the park rangers asked everyone in one part of the park. - This example would be biased because the people who weren't in that part of the park had less of a chance of being picked

Answer 2

To determine whether a sampling is random or biased, we need to know how the sample was selected. Here are three possible scenarios:

Ranger 1 stands at the entrance to the park and surveys the first 100 visitors who arrive.

This sampling is biased, as it only includes visitors who arrived early in the day. Visitors who arrive later in the day may have different characteristics or behaviors, so this sample may not be representative of all park visitors.

Ranger 2 selects every 10th visitor who enters the park and surveys them.

This sampling is random, as every 10th visitor is selected without bias. This method is called systematic sampling.

Ranger 3 surveys visitors who are leaving the park on a rainy day.

This sampling is biased, as visitors who come to the park on a rainy day may have different motivations or behaviors than visitors on a sunny day. This sample may not be representative of all park visitors.

In summary, sampling methods that are random, such as systematic sampling, are preferred over biased sampling methods in order to obtain a representative sample of the population of interest.