Fandom at work
Feb. 16th, 2007 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowscastOn an intro to stats test I gave yesterday, this was question #1:
The police department in Sunnydale wants to know how the adult population feels about female police officers. The head of public relations chooses 100 residential addresses at random from the phone book, and sends a uniformed male police officer to interview the people at those addresses. The officer conducts the survey between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a weekday. He finds someone at home at 26 of the houses. The question he asks is: "Considering the recent rise in violent crime in Sunnydale, and considering that women on average are smaller and weaker than men, do you feel comfortable with the police department hiring more female officers?"
a) What is the population? [1 mark]
b) What is the sample? [1 mark]
c) List all the possible sources of bias in this scenario. [4 marks]
This is how I amuse myself! (And, hopefully, at least a few of my students.)
The police department in Sunnydale wants to know how the adult population feels about female police officers. The head of public relations chooses 100 residential addresses at random from the phone book, and sends a uniformed male police officer to interview the people at those addresses. The officer conducts the survey between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a weekday. He finds someone at home at 26 of the houses. The question he asks is: "Considering the recent rise in violent crime in Sunnydale, and considering that women on average are smaller and weaker than men, do you feel comfortable with the police department hiring more female officers?"
a) What is the population? [1 mark]
b) What is the sample? [1 mark]
c) List all the possible sources of bias in this scenario. [4 marks]
This is how I amuse myself! (And, hopefully, at least a few of my students.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-16 06:23 pm (UTC):Wails:
I think it's just too mathematical for me.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-18 01:19 am (UTC)Basically questions a and b are just technical little things (first someone has to tell you what a "population" and a "sample") are. Question c boils down to "what are the Sunnydale police doing wrong?" which as we all know already, is quite a lot!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-18 01:58 pm (UTC)Am glad my kids aren't like that. They take after their dad.