1. The Canadian government's decision to eliminate the mandatory longform version of the census and to move these questions to an optional survey had many concerned. Many members of the business community and economists stressed the importance of the census data for crafting public policy. The minister of industry was given the task of defending the government's decision. In response to an argument that making the longform of the census voluntary would make the sample biased because the statistical randomness of the survey had been eliminated, the minister replied: "Wrong. Statisticians can ensure validity with a larger sample size."

Is the ministercorrect?

The minister iscorrect because biased samples can fixed by increasing the sample size.

The minister misspoke, but he iscorrect.

The minister is partially correct. It depends on how much larger the sample sizeis.

The minister isincorrect because biased samples can't be made unbiased by increasing the sample size.

The minister is partially correct because statisticians can correct biased samples by adjusting for demographic variables like age and gender.

2. To assess the opinion of students at The Ohio State University about campus safety, a reporter for the student newspaper interviews 15 students that she meets walking on the campus late at night who are willing to give their opinion. The sample obtained is:

S

probably biased because of response bias.

a simple random sample of students who feel safe.

a representative sample of all students who have night classes.

probably biased because of under-coverage.

representative of all who feel safe walking on campus late at night.

a stratified random sample of students who feel safe.