Question

Suppose you are interested in estimating the average (mean) number of hours that the population of all DCC students work at jobs during each week of the semester. Suppose that you select a sample of students at DCC by standing in front of the library at 11:00 and asking students who pass by to take a survey.   Do you think this sampling method would produce a sample we can trust to make conclusions about the general population of all DCC students?  Why or why not?

Answer 1

This sampling method may not be reliable to conclude about the population of all DCC students because it is subject to bias and errors as follows:

1.) Some students may refuse to take the survey

2.) The survey data might not be accurate as the students might not be able to self examine their number of hours per week correctly

3.) The survey might lead to non-response errors.

4.) Chosing a specific time of a single day will introduce bias. Rather a random sample of students might be studied.