Question

Part I. (10 Points) Consider the following scenarios: Scenario 1: Suppose a traffic survey asks: "Do you think fines for speeding should be doubled? What do you think the responses would be if there was only the options yes or no? How might these change if the question "Have you ever been fined for speeding?" preceded this question in the survey? In general, what could be some issues with this question and how it is worded? Scenario 2: Suppose a company that manufactures paint claims in their advertisement "In a randomized comparative experiment on drying time, our paint beat out the competition! We have the fastest drying paint! Suppose the following is the actual data from the experiment done by the manufacturer Dry time in minutes for Manufacturers Paint 33.2 29.3 Dry time in minutes for Competitions Paint 335 35.6 295 354 Consider the average dry time of each paint type. Is the manufacturers claim truthful? Either way, is the advertisement misleading? Why or why not? What else could be a source of issue when it comes to this experiment? Consider bias of the experimenter and replication.

Answer 1

Solution :

Do you think fines for speeding should be doubled ?

Obviously , the answer of such questions are usually in yes or no . Anyway , considering the population is normal  and would want to save money most of the answers for the survey would be no . Also , please note that all the responders who were ever fined or are regular offenders for speeding would give the answer as no , thereby ingesting a bias in the responses analysis. What if all offenders were selected who are inclined to answer no ? what if all non offenders are selected who are inclined to answer yes ? This would not be meanigful in a comparitive analysis If this were preceeded by the question , have you ever been fined ? This would help us take a balanced approach by taking into account equal numbers of offenders and non offenders and then observing their answers to find out an fundamental relationship. One of the issues could be , individuals are usually reluctant in declaring that they were speed offenders , so it is quite possible that they may not answer the question correctly . They may answer a No when infact they were fined for speeding. This would not help us in making a right analysis , as our premise would go wrong.