Question

Ballistic Fingerprinting. In an on-line press release, ABCNews.com reported that "...73 percent of Americans... favor a law that would require every gun sold in the United States to be test-fired first, so law enforcement would have its fingerprint in case it were ever used in a crime."

(a). Do you think that the statement in the press release is inferential or descriptive? Can you be sure?

(b). Actually, ABCNews.com conducted a telephone survey of a random national sample of 1032 adults and determined that 73% of them favored a law that would require every gun sold in the United States to be test-fired first, so law enforcement would have its fingerprint in case it were ever used in a crime. How would you rephrase the statement in the press release to make clear that it is a descriptive statement? an inferential statement?

Short answer

Part (a) Descriptive statement.

Part (b) Inferential statement.

Step-by-step solution

Part (a) Step 1. Given information. 

The given statement is:

In an on-line press release, ABCNews.com reported that "...73 percent of Americans... favor a law that would require every gun sold in the United States to be test-fired first, so law enforcement would have its fingerprint in case it were ever used in a crime."

Part (a) Step 2. Check whether the given statement in the press release is inferential or descriptive.

Therefore, the study in question is a Designed Experiment.
The statement is descriptive in nature because it is simply a summary of the data that 73 percent of Americans support a rule requiring every gun sold in the United States to be tested first.

We can't be sure because the first half of the statement, as well as some parts in the middle, are missing.

Therefore, the study in question is descriptive.

Part (b) Step 1. Given information.

The given statement is:

Actually, ABCNews.com conducted a telephone survey of a random national sample of 1032 adults and determined that 73% of them favored a law that would require every gun sold in the United States to be test-fired first, so law enforcement would have its fingerprint in case it were ever used in a crime.

Part (b) Step 2. Rephrase the statement in the press release to make clear that it is a descriptive statement or an inferential statement.

If the statement were rephrased as follows: "A law requiring every gun sold in the United States to test shot first was favored by 73 percent of the 1032 persons polled over the phone.

In case it was overused in a crime, law enforcement would have its fingerprint

As a result, it's evident that the claim is inferential rather than descriptive.