Job Applicants The Society for Human Resource Management conducted a survey of 347 human resource professionals and found that 73% of them reported that their companies do criminal background checks of all job applicants.

a. Find the number of respondents who reported that their companies do criminal background checks of all job applicants.

b. Identify the sample and the population.

c. Is the value of 73% a statistic or a parameter? Explain.

Out of the 347 professionals who were surveyed, 73% of them said that their companies do criminal background checks of all job applicants.

a.

The number of respondents who saidthat their companies do criminal background checks of all job applicants is equal to:

\(\begin{array}{c}{\rm{Number}}\;{\rm{of}}\;{\rm{respondents}} = 73\% \;{\rm{of}}\;347\\ = \frac{{73}}{{100}} \times 347\\ = 253.31\\ \approx 253\end{array}\)

Thus, approximately 253respondentssaidthat their companies do criminal background checks of all job applicants

b.

The sample is the group of human resource professionals who were surveyed.

The population is the set of all human resource professionals.

c.

Any computation/value obtained using the sample is called a statistic whereas any mathematical value computed using the population is called a parameter.

As the percentage of professionals (73%) who said that their companies do criminal background checks of all job applicants is a value that was computed using the sample, it is a statistic.