Question

In a large city school district with 20 elementary schools, the school board is considering the adoption of a new policy that would require elementary students to pass a test in order to be promoted to the next grade. The PTA wants to find out whether parents agree with this plan. Listed below are some ideas proposed for gathering data. Identify the type of sample for each of the ideas listed.

  ?    simple random    convenience    cluster    stratified      1. Ask the parents who come to next month's school board meeting what they think of the plan. This is an example of a __________ sample.

  ?    simple random    convenience    cluster    stratified      2. Randomly select 400 parents in the district with children in elementary school. Send them a survey, and follow up with a phone call if they do not return the survey within a week. This is an example of a __________ sample.

  ?    simple random    convenience    cluster    stratified      3. Randomly select one classroom from each of the elementary schools and contact every parent with children in that classroom by phone. This is an example of a __________ sample.

  ?    simple random    convenience    cluster    stratified      4. Randomly select 20 parents from each elementary school in the district. Send them a survey, and follow up with a phone call if they do not return the survey within a week. This is an example of a __________ sample.

5. Choose the method that will provide the most unbiased sample.

A. Randomly select 400 parents in the district with children in elementary school. Send them a survey, and follow up with a phone call if they do not return the survey within a week.
B. Randomly select 20 parents from each elementary school in the district. Send them a survey, and follow up with a phone call if they do not return the survey within a week.
C. Ask the parents who come to next month's school board meeting what they think of the plan.
D. Randomly select one classroom from each of the elementary schools and contact every parent with children in that classroom by phone

Answer 1