In the March 8, 1994, edition of the Scotsman, a newspaper published in Edinburgh, Scotland, a headline read, “Reform study finds fear over schools.” The article described a survey of 200 parents who had been asked about proposed education reforms and indicated that most parents felt uninformed and thought the reforms would be costly and unnecessary. The report did not clarify whether a random sample was chosen, but make that assumption in answering the following questions.
a. What is the margin of error for this survey?
b. It was reported that “about 80 percent added that they were satisfied with the current education set-up in Scotland.” What is the range of values that almost certainly covers the percentage of the population of parents who were satisfied?
c. The article quoted Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, the Scottish education minister, as saying, “If you took a similar poll in two years’ time, you would have a different result.” Comment on this statement.