Question

1. A marketing expert working for Macey’s grocery store wishes to know the average number of times wallmart customers visit the store each week. In order to address this question, she chooses three different hours on Saturdays during which she stands outside the grocery store and talks to customers as they enter to do their shopping.

1. State the population(s) of interest.

2. Identify the parameter(s) of interest.

3. Why is the parameter not ‘the number of times each person visits Macey’s in a week’?

4. Is this an observational study or a controlled experiment? Explain.

5. What type of analysis does this anticipate?

6. If applicable, identify one problem with the sampling scheme and explain how this would bias the results of the experiment. Otherwise, explain why you think the sampling is well done.

Answer 1

State the population(s) of interest.

The population of interest is Wallmart customers.

Identify the parameter(s) of interest.

The parameter of interest is the average number of times Wallmart customers visit the store each week.

Why is the parameter not ‘the number of times each person visits Macey’s in a week’?

The parameter of interest is not ‘the number of times each person visits Macey’s in a week’ because the marketing expert is interested to know the average number of times Wallmart customers visit the store each week.

Is this an observational study or a controlled experiment? Explain.

This is an observational study because the marketing expert stands outside the grocery store and talks to customers as they enter to do their shopping.

What type of analysis does this anticipate?

The analysis employed is Quota sampling.

This method of sampling is often used by market researchers. Interviewers are given a quota of subjects of a specified type to attempt to recruit.

If applicable, identify one problem with the sampling scheme and explain how this would bias the results of the experiment. Otherwise, explain why you think the sampling is well done.

The researcher chose Saturday for the research analysis while most people do visit the stores on Saturdays and Sundays due to which the sampling is done well.