Question

USA today reported that 80% of all cell phone users have experienced service problems. The information was obtained from a survey of 12 metro areas in the U.S. Even though a significant number of those surveyed had problems with their service, only 40% of those who reported their problems found their carrier's response helpful. Of the respondents, 26% reported that they had received an overcharge of $10 or more.

a) What method was used to gather the information in the above article, controlled experiment or observational study? Explain.

b) Given the information was gathered correctly, describe how bias might enter into the data.

c) If your goal as a consultant was to gather information from cell phone users, what data collection method would you use to ensure your data was a fair and representative sample of the population?

Answer 1

(a)

The method that was used to gather the information in the above article is only observational study and not a controlled experiment bcause there are no 2 independent groups:Experimental Group and Control Grooup as required in the controlled experiment and the reasearcher imply records the survey responses from participants.

(b)

The bias in the survey is: Non- response bias. Since there is no compulsion or incentive to respond to the survey, many cell phone users may just ignore the survey unless they have some strong opinion on service problems. This will make the survey response very low, resulting in unreliable conclusions.

(c)

In order to to ensure our data was a fair and representative sample of the population, all the cell phone users selected for the survey should be properly briefed about the importance of properly responding to the survey. There can be a follow up with those who did not respond properly.There can be an incetive scheme for best suggestions for improvement of the service.