A researcher conducted a survey to determine whether people in a certain large town prefer watching sports on television to attending the sporting event. The researcher asked 117 people who visited a local restaurant on a Saturday, and 7 people refused to respond. Which of the following factor makes it least likely that a reliable conclusion can be drawn about the sports-watching preferences of all people in the town?
Survey research is an efficient way to estimate the preferences of a large population. In order to reliably generalize the results of survey research to a larger population, the participants should be randomly selected from all people in that population. Since this survey was conducted with a population that was not randomly selected, the results are not reliably representative of all people in the town. Therefore, of the given factors,where the survey was given makes it least likely that a reliable conclusion can be drawn about the sports-watching preferences of all people in the town. Choice A is incorrect. In general, larger sample sizes are preferred over smaller sample sizes. However, a sample size of 117 people would have allowed a reliable conclusion about the population if the participants had been selected at random. Choice B is incorrect. Whether the population is large or small, a large enough sample taken from the population is reliably generalizable if the participants are selected at random from that population.Thus, a reliable conclusion could have been drawn about the population if the 117 survey participants had been selected at random. Choice C is incorrect. When giving a survey, participants are not forced to respond.Even though some people refused to respond, a reliable conclusion could have been drawn about the population if the participants had been selected