Question

A survey is to be conducted among Rolla residents to determine their views about political candidates
in an upcoming election. The survey asks each resident several questions including their gender, their
income, the number of times they have voted in the last 10 elections, and which candidate they plan to
vote for in the upcoming election.
a. Identify the population of interest in this study.
b. Identify the individuals in the study.
c. Identify the variables mentioned and state what type they are.
d. Discuss the difference between conducting a census and taking a sample of residents.
e. Discuss how the three possible types of sampling (simple random sample, stratified random
sample, convenience sampling) could be conducted in this study and describe the potential
advantages/disadvantages of each.

Answer 1

A) Population of interest is Rolla residents.

B) the individuals in this study is each resident of Rolla

C) variable mentioned in this question are

• Gender : this is a qualitative variable
• income: this is a quantitative variable
• number of times they have voted in the last 10 elections : this is a quantitative variable
• candidate they plan to vote for the coming election

D)Surveys can gather information through different methods of observation. However, most surveys employ a questionnaire to measure specific characteristics of the population. There are two main ways to gather this information.

A census survey collects complete information from all participants in the population. General criteria of a census survey include:

• Establish and maintain a complete list of the primary sampling unit (PSU) components.
• All members of the PSU in the fishery must be included
• Validation (used to correct for missing and misreported data)
• Enforceable and enforced

A sample survey uses a representative group of a given population to determine characteristics of the entire population. General requirements of a sample survey include:

• The sample must be representativeof the entire population.
• The data collected from the representative sample is expanded to produce an estimate of the total population.
• The estimate has two parts: Point estimate and margin of error.
• Assumptions should be tested to identify and measure potential bias if possible.

Sample surveys are used when it is not possible or practical to conduct a census to count each individual of an entire population