Start by choosing a sampling method such that the sample is representative of the population. Then write a survey question that does not contain any assumptions.
See solution.
Practice makes perfect
We want to conduct a survey on the music preferences of our entire school. Then we will analyze the results to choose types of music the students would like to listen to during the next school dance. To conduct the survey, we will follow three steps.
First, we need to choose an unbiased sampling method for our survey. To do so, let's recall the methods that we know.
Since we want to know the opinion of students from all grade levels, we will separate our high school into four groups by grade level. Then we will survey a random sample of students from each grade. For example, we can number the students and choose them using a random number generator. To choose the sample size, let's use the following applet.
Now, we will write unbiased survey questions asking about music preferences. Keep in mind that a survey question is biased when it contains assumptions that may or may not be true. Here we have one example of an unbiased survey question.
What genre of music do you enjoy?
We cannot assume that a respondent will go to the next school dance. Therefore, we do not mention the dance in the question. Also, since the answers should be equally significant for the results, we are asking about only one genre of music.
Collect and Analyze the Data
Finally, we should collect and analyze the data. When doing this, we should consider only answers with an existing genre of music and which make sense. Then we can calculate the frequency of each genre. An example of data is presented in the following frequency table.
Genre of Music
Frequency
Pop
97
Rap/Hip-hop
53
Rock/Metal
32
Alternative
25
Electronic
21
Jazz/Funk
9
Based on the table, we can find the proportion of genres. The music at the dance can be played in the same proportion as the music enjoyed by the students.
