Question

one of the variables most often included in surveys is income. Sometimes the question is phrased​ "What is your income​ (in thousands of​ dollars)?" In other​ surveys, the respondent

is asked to​ "Select the circle corresponding to your income​ level" and is given a number of income ranges to choose from. Complete parts a and b below.

part b. Which of these two formats would you prefer to use if you were conducting a​ survey? Why?(multiple choice)

A. Depending on the way the data is​ analyzed, either format could be used. If a continuous variable is​ preferred, use the second​ format, since income could be measured to different levels of precision. If a discrete variable is​ preferred, use the first format.

B. The second format would always be used because it forces the response to be discrete and will be easier to interpret than the result in the first format.

C. Depending on the way the data is​ analyzed, either format could be used. If a continuous variable is​ preferred, use the first​ format, since income could be measured to different levels of precision. If a discrete variable is​ preferred, use the second format.

D. The first format would always be used because it allows the response to be continuous and will allow for a more accurate assessment of the​ respondents' income.

Answer 1

Option C. Depending on the way the data is​ analyzed, either format could be used. If a continuous variable is​ preferred, use the first​ format, since income could be measured to different levels of precision. If a discrete variable is​ preferred, use the second format.

Explanation:

Analysis of income can be done in different ways.

For example, if we use a regression analysis to predict the income based on some other factors from the survey data, we expect the income to be a continuous variable.

On the other hand, suppose a researcher is interested to find if there is any significant influence of income levels on some other variable (say, monthly expense on clothing), moslty as in the cases where we perform an ANOVA, we consider the income to be in ranges (like '< 1 lakh', '1-3 lakh', '3-5 lakh', '> 5 lakh', etc) , as mentioned in the second format

i.e., the preference of the first or second format for recording the income in the survey depends on the goal behind the survey. For analyses where a continuos variable is required, we must follow the first format and for cases where continuos variable is not required, we can choose the second format.

Hence Option C is the correct answer.