In: Statistics and Probability
Clyde is a political candidate. Clyde asks Marge, his head of
polling, to conduct a poll that will estimate the percentage of
voters who support him with a 7% margin of error at a 99%
confidence level. How many random voters does Marge need to
poll? Be sure to round accordingly.
Marge would need to survey (answer) voters in order to
be within a 7% margin of error at a 99% confidence level.
Solution :
Given that,
= 0.5
1 - = 0.5
margin of error = E = 7% = 0.07
At 99% confidence level the z is,
= 1 - 99%
= 1 - 0.99 = 0.01
/2 = 0.005
Z/2 = 2.576 ( Using z table )
Sample size = n = (Z/2 / E)2 * * (1 - )
= (2.576 / 0.07)2 * 0.5 * 0.5
=338.56
Sample size = 339