Factual Questions

1. What term is used to refer to all members of a group in which a scientist has an interest?

2. If samples yield statistics, what do populations yield?

.

3. What is the most important characteristic of a good sample?

4. If a scientist uses a sample of volunteers from a population, should we presume that the sample is biased?

5. What type of sampling eliminates bias?

6. Briefly describe how one could select a simple random sample.

7. Does random sampling produce sampling errors?

8. Is selecting a very large sample an effective way to reduce the effects of a serious bias in sampling?

Questions for Discussion

9. Are you convinced that using a rather small unbiased sample is better than using a very large biased sample?Why?Why not?

10. Be on the lookout for a news report of a scientific study in which a biased sample was used.If you find one, briefly describe it here.