Question

Identify each sample as biased or unbiased. Explain your reasoning.

A magazine publisher asks every tenth person at a fitness expo what magazines they have in their household.

Short answer

The sample is biased.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. State the concept for sample and population.

A sample is a specific group that you will collect data from. The size of the sample is always less than the total size of the population.

A population is an entire group that you want to draw conclusions about.

a population doesn’t always refer to people. It can mean a group containing elements of anything you want to study, such as objects, events, organizations, countries, species, organisms, etc.

Step 2. State the concept for biased and unbiased samples.

A biased sample means the sample is not representative of the population, which means the method for getting the sample is defective.

An unbiased sample means the sample is representative of the population.

Step 3. State the answer with an explanation.

Most people at a fitness expo are likely to have a fitness magazine at home. The survey favors a particular group of people and hence it will not yield accurate results. Therefore, the survey is biased.