An American history professor at a major university was interested in knowing the history literacy of college freshmen. In particular, he wanted to find what proportion of college freshmen at the university knew which country controlled the original 13 colonies prior to the American Revolution. The professor sent a questionnaire to all freshman students enrolled in HIST 101 and received responses from 318 students out of the 7,500 students who were sent the questionnaire. One of the questions was “What country controlled the original 13 colonies prior to the American Revolution?”
a. What is the population of interest to the professor?
b. What is the sampled population?
c. Is there a major difference in the two populations. Explain your answer.
d. Suppose that several lectures on the American Revolution had been given in HIST 101 prior to the students receiving the questionnaire. What possible source of bias has the professor introduced into the study relative to the population of interest?