Question

Call the shots A newspaper advertisement for an upcoming TV show said: “Should handgun control be tougher? You call the shots in a special call-in

poll tonight. If yes, call $1-900-720-6181$If not, call $1-900-720-6182$A charge is $50$ cents for the first minute.” Explain why this opinion poll is almost certainly biased.

Short answer

This opinion poll is almost certainly biased because it uses data from a voluntary response sample.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

An upcoming TV show's commercial asked: Should there be stricter gun laws? We need to explain why this opinion poll is almost probably biased, given over $90\%$ of those that called in voting yes.

Concept

A simple random sample (SRS) of size n is made up of $n$ people chosen from the population with an equal chance of being the sample that is actually chosen.

Explanation

Based on the television episode, a newspaper advertisement for the United States is shown: "Should handgun laws be strengthened? Because it draws data from a volunteer response sample, this opinion poll is almost probably skewed. It is made up of numerous people who choose themselves based on the voluntary response sample to the broad appeal. Almost never do voluntary response samples fully reflect the total population. They tend to overrepresent persons with strong beliefs since they are more likely to reply willingly to such polls.