Question

In Exercises 17–20, refer to the sample of body temperatures (degrees Fahrenheit) in the table below. (The body temperatures are from a data set in Appendix B.)

Source: The listed body temperatures were obtained from Dr. Steven Wasserman, Dr. Philip Mackowiak, and Dr. Myron Levine, who were researchers at the University of Maryland. Is the source of the data likely to be biased?

Short answer

Yes, the source suggests biased data.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

The body temperatures of five subjects were recorded at two different times; 8AM and 12 AM.

The listed temperatures were taken from researchers of the University of Maryland.

The interpretation of biased data

Suppose the data is collected for a sample in such a way that it is not representative of the population or contains values that are not random. In that case, the observations can be regarded as being taken from a biasedsource.

Check for the biasedness of the data

In the context of this study, it is known that few university researchers were the participants of the study; that is, the body temperatures were collected from the researchers of the study.

As the subjects recorded for the study were themselves conducting the study, the data is highly likely to be biased.

It is not a truly random sample and can lead to inaccurate results.

Thus, it can be concluded that the source of data is biased.