Airline companies are interested in the consistency of the number of babies on each flight, so that they have adequate safety equipment. Suppose an airline conducts a survey. Over Thanksgiving weekend, it surveys six flights from Boston to Salt Lake City to determine the number of babies on the flights. It determines the amount of safety equipment needed by the result of that study.

a. Using complete sentences, list three things wrong with the way the survey was conducted.

b. Using complete sentences, list three ways that you would improve the survey if it were to be repeated.

Short Answer

Expert verified

a)

1. The survey was conducted on weekends, which is incorrect because it is impossible to forecast the number of babies on weekdays by conducting the poll solely on weekends.

2. The poll was conducted on six identical flights, which is incorrect because it is impossible to forecast the number of newborns on all sorts of flights by conducting a survey on six identical flights.

3. The study did not use a representative sample of air travellers since the survey sample was not representative of all types of air travellers.

b)

1. It is necessary to conduct the survey on multiple days of the week in order to ensure accuracy.

2. To ensure that the survey is accurate, it must be conducted at several times throughout the year, so that each season can be covered.

3. To ensure that the survey is accurate, it must be conducted on flights from a variety of origins and destinations.

Step by step solution

01

Part(a) - Step 1: To find

The errors in the survey conducted.

02

Part(a) - Step 2: Explanation

The following are three flaws in the survey that was conducted:

  • Survey was done over the Christmas season, when the number of people would be unusually high.
  • The only route covered is from Boston to Salt Lake City, which may result in biassed results based on these specific sites.
  • The sample size of 6 is insufficient to generalise the results of such a survey.
03

Part (b) Step 3: To find

The improvements in the survey conducted.

04

Part (b) - Step 4: Explanation

The following are three enhancements to the survey:

  • Surveys can be conducted on regular working days, weekends, and holidays to gain a general sense of the number of children who travel.
  • The only route covered is from Boston to Salt Lake City, which may result in skewed results based on these specific sites. As a result, other routes must be incorporated in order to obtain a more comprehensive picture.
  • The sample size of 6 is insufficient to generalise the results of such a survey. As a result, more flights can be included in the poll; the larger the sample, the more accurate the study's results.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

The data are the colors of houses. You sample five houses. The colors of the houses are white, yellow, white, red, and white. What type of data is this?

For the following four exercises, determine the type of sampling used (simple random, stratified, systematic, cluster, or convenience).

A market researcher polls every tenth person who walks into a store.

A study was done to determine the age, number of times per week, and the duration (amount of time) of residents using a local park in San Antonio, Texas. The first house in the neighborhood around the park was selected randomly, and then the resident of every eighth house in the neighborhood around the park was interviewed.

The colors of the houses around the park are what kind of data?

a. qualitative(categorical); b. quantitative discrete; c. quantitative continuous

For the following exercises, identify the type of data that would be used to describe a response (quantitative discrete, quantitative continuous, or qualitative), and give an example of the data.

number of competing computer spreadsheet software packages

Name the sampling method used in each of the following situations:

a. A woman in the airport is handing out questionnaires to travelers asking them to evaluate the airport’s service. She does not ask travelers who are hurrying through the airport with their hands full of luggage, but instead asks all travelers who are sitting near gates and not taking naps while they wait.

b. A teacher wants to know if her students are doing homework, so she randomly selects rows two and five and then calls on all students in row two and all students in row five to present the solutions to homework problems to the class.

c. The marketing manager for an electronics chain store wants information about the ages of its customers. Over the next two weeks, at each store location, 100randomly selected customers are given questionnaires to fill out asking for information about age, as well as about other variables of interest.

d. The librarian at a public library wants to determine what proportion of the library users are children. The librarian has a tally sheet on which she marks whether books are checked out by an adult or a child. She records this data for every fourth patron who checks out books.

e. A political party wants to know the reaction of voters to a debate between the candidates. The day after the debate, the party’s polling staff calls 1,200randomly selected phone numbers. If a registered voter answers the phone or is available to come to the phone, that registered voter is asked whom he or she intends to vote for and whether the debate changed his or her opinion of the candidates.

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Math Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free