Exercise 5.3 For each of the following opinion polls,(1) determine whether the poll results offer strong support for thepollster’s conclusion, and, if they don’t, (2) specify the sourceof the problem (sample too small, unrepresentative sample, ornonrandom sampling). Assume that the conducting of each survey isfree of technical errors such as mistakes in data processing orimproper polling interviews.
1. An Internet site featuring national and world news asksvisitors to participate in the site’s “instant daily poll†of hottopics. The current polling question is: “Should the words ‘underGod’ be stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance if its recitation isrequired of public school children?†Twelve thousand people visitthe site on the day that the poll is taken. Of those, seventhousand answer no to the question. The site concludes that 58percent of Americans oppose modifying the Pledge.
3.A prominent sociologist wants to determine the sexualattitudes of women aged twenty-five to forty-five. The mainquestion to be explored is whether heterosexual women in this agegroup feel satisfied with their partners’ sexual performance. Thesociologist interviews two hundred of her friends who belong to thetarget group. She also asks two hundred of her female colleagues ather college to complete and return a survey asking the keyquestion. She gets seventy-eight completed surveys back from womenin the target group. She finds that 75 percent of all theinterviewees say that they are not satisfied with their partners’performance. She concludes that most heterosexual women agedtwenty-five to forty-five aren’t happy with the sexual performanceof their partners.
5.A national women’s magazine publishes a questionnaire onsexual harassment in the workplace. Respondents are asked tocomplete the questionnaire and mail it in to the magazine. Themagazine receives over twenty thousand completed questionnaires inthe mail. Sixty-two percent of the respondents say that they’vebeen sexually harassed at work. The magazine reports that mostwomen have been sexually harassed at work.
