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Exam Questions on Sampling Techniques

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
26 views8 pages

Exam Questions on Sampling Techniques

Uploaded by

20singhj
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Sampling Methods

SCAN ME REVISE THIS CHECK YOUR SCAN ME


TOPIC ANSWERS
1 A car manufacturer produces 30 cars. Each car is fitted with 5 seat belts.

The car manufacturer wishes to test the seat belts to ensure that they function correctly.

(a) Identify the population. (1)

(b) Explain what is meant by the term census. (1)

(c) Explain what is meant by the term sample. (1)

(d) Should the car manufacturer complete a census or a sample? (1)


Give a reason for your answer.

(Total for Question 1 is 4 marks)

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2 A chess club has 220 members, of which 125 are male and 95 are female.

The club chair wishes to sample the members of the club to see what their chess ratings are.

(a) Identify the population. (1)

(b) Suggest a suitable sampling frame. (1)

(c) Identify the sampling units. (1)

The club chair decides to take a sample of 20 members of the chess club.
They wish to ensure that the proportion of males and females in the same is the same as that in
the entire club.

(d) State the type of sampling method that the club chair should use. (1)

(e) Work out how many male and female members should be included in the sample. (1)

(Total for Question 2 is 5 marks)

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3 A sports company produces trainers for athletes who compete in long distance running races.

The sports company produces 1000 units of a new type of trainer and wishes to know how many
miles athletes can run in the trainer before it needs replacing. The company takes sample a of the
1000 units and gives them to athletes to test.

(a) Explain why the sports company uses a sample and not a census. (1)

(b) Describe how the sports company could produce a sample of size 20 using simple (3)
random sampling.

Instead the sports company uses this following method to sample 20 of the units of trainers.

- Number of each of units from 1 to 1000.


- Use a random number generator to select a random number between 1 and 50.
- Include the unit corresponding to this number in the sample.
- Include every 50th unit after the unit sampled in the previous step.

(c) Name the type of sampling method used by the sports company. (1)

(Total for Question 3 is 5 marks)

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4 A headteacher wishes to sample students in the sixth form to find out how they travel to school.

The headteacher decides to sample 30 students, stratified by year group.

There are 148 students in Year 12 and 112 students in Year 13 at the school’s sixth form.

(a) Work out how many students there should be in the sample from each of the year groups. (2)

(b) State one advantage of using this sampling method. (1)

A teacher at the school suggests it would be much easier to simply sample the first 30 students
that arrive to school in the morning.

(c) State the sampling technique suggested by the teacher. (1)

(d) Explain why this sampling technique would not be suitable for this investigation. (1)

(Total for Question 4 is 5 marks)

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5 Amy wishes to know whether people who listen to Taylor Swift music enjoyed her most recent album.

(a) Identify the population. (1)

(b) Give a reason why it may not be possible for Amy to use simple random sampling. (1)

Amy wants to sample 60 people and wishes to ensure that she has a range of ages in the sample.
She samples people as they arrive for a Taylor Swift concert and ensures that she samples:

20 people in the age range 0 – 15 years


20 people in the age range 16 – 30 years
20 people in the age range 31 years and above

If the person sampled does not listen to Taylor Swift music she does not include them.
If the person sampled has not listened to Taylor Swift’s most recent album she does not include them.
If the person being sampled is in an age range where Amy already has 20 people she does not include
them.

(c) State the sampling technique used by Amy. (1)

(d) State one disadvantage of using this sampling method. (1)

(Total for Question 5 is 4 marks)

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6 A local council wishes to sample residents within the council area to ask their views on the
condition of the road surfaces in the region.

The council wishes to take a sample of size 250 from the 95,000 residents within the council area.

(a) Describe how the council could obtain the sample using simple random sampling. (3)

(b) Describe how the council could obtain the sample using systematic sampling. (3)

The council estimates that the ratio of drivers to non-drivers in the council area 5 : 1
A member of the council suggests that the sample should include the same proportion of drivers
and non-drivers as the whole council does.

(c) State the sampling method that they should use. (1)

(d) Work out how many drivers and non-drivers should be in the sample using the council’s (1)
estimate.

(Total for Question 6 is 8 marks)

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7 A headteacher wants to investigate how much revision students do to prepare for mock exams.

There are 750 students who attend the school that are split into 25 tutor groups.

The headteacher considers three sampling methods:

Method A:
- Whilst on duty at lunchtime, sample the first 150 students that they meet.

Method B:
- Number all students in the school from 1 to 750.
- Randomly generate 150 different numbers between 1 and 750.
- Sample all 150 students that correspond to the numbers generated.

Method C:
- Number each of the tutor groups in the school from 1 to 25.
- Randomly generate 5 different numbers between 1 to 25 and sample all students within the tutor
groups that correspond to these numbers.

(a) State the sampling technique used in Method A. (1)

(b) State two reasons why Method A might be biased. (2)

(c) State the sampling technique used in Method B. (1)

(d) State one advantage of Method A over Method B. (1)

(e) State the sampling technique used in Method C. (AQA only) (1)

(Total for Question 7 is 6 marks)

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8 A farm that grows potatoes only wants to harvest them once the potatoes have a mass of 120 g.

The farm has approximately 18000 potatoes that were planted at the same time.

The farmer selects 5 potatoes growing nearest to the farmhouse.


They remove them from the plant and check their masses.
The results are shown below:

126g 118g 120g 125g 121g


(1)
(a) Explain why the farmer should not use a census.
(1)
(b) State the sampling technique used by the farmer.

The farmer claims that this sample means they should harvest all of the potatoes. (1)
(c) Comment on this claim.

(d) Suggest two improvements the farmer could make to their sampling method. (2)

(Total for Question 8 is 5 marks)

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Common questions

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Amy’s selection criteria, requiring participants to have listened to the album and be within specific age quotas, might limit the validity by excluding potential respondents who might offer differing opinions. This could result in sampling bias towards younger and more dedicated fans. While ensuring age diversity, the exclusion criteria might not reflect general album reception across a broader audience .

Proportionate stratified sampling is chosen to ensure the sample's demographic makeup mirrors the estimated driver-to-non-driver ratio of 5:1. Thus, of the 250 samples, 208 should be drivers and 42 non-drivers, maintaining consistent proportions with the entire population. This method ensures representativeness, increasing the validity and reliability of the survey findings .

Convenience sampling, such as selecting the five potatoes closest to the farmhouse, can lead to biased results that are not representative of the entire field's crop. This method fails to consider the variability in growth conditions across the field. The farmer’s claim that this sample means all potatoes are ready for harvest may be misguided; wider and more randomized samplings could yield different results .

Method A proposes sampling the first 150 students the headteacher meets during lunchtime duty, which can introduce bias because it might over-represent students who have lunch earlier or exhibit particular behaviors. For instance, students involved in lunchtime activities might be underrepresented, skewing the results towards those who have more flexible lunchtime schedules and possibly misleading inferences about revision habits .

Amy uses quota sampling by dividing attendees into age brackets (0-15, 16-30, and 31+) and samples 20 people from each bracket to ensure a range of ages. A disadvantage of this method is that it might not accurately reflect demographic diversity beyond age, such as sampling bias towards concert attendees, who may inherently have favorable opinions, thus not representing the broader population of Taylor Swift listeners .

Stratified sampling is suitable as it ensures that the sample accurately reflects the proportions of males and females (125 males and 95 females) in the chess club’s population of 220 members. The club chair can maintain this proportionality by including 11 male and 9 female members in the sample of 20, thereby providing a precise representation of the club’s demographics in the sampling process .

The council selects a sample of size 250 from 95,000 residents by first listing all residents, then choosing a starting point at random and subsequently selecting every 380th individual from that point onward. This technique evenly spreads the sample over the population and is efficient for large populations, ensuring a structured and randomness in selection .

The sports company uses systematic sampling by numbering each of the 1000 trainer units from 1 to 1000, selecting a random starting number between 1 and 50, and including every 50th unit thereafter. This method is chosen over a census because it is more efficient, reducing the cost and time compared to testing all 1000 trainers. This approach is practical for evaluating wear while still providing a representative sample .

A census involves collecting data from every member of the population, which in this case would mean testing all seat belts on the 30 cars, whereas a sample involves selecting a subset of the population to analyze. The car manufacturer might choose a sample over a census to save time and resources, as testing every seat belt individually could be costly and time-consuming, especially if the number of cars produced is large .

Method C uses cluster sampling by selecting entire tutor groups for observation, as opposed to Methods A and B which employ simple random sampling based on individual students. Cluster sampling can be more efficient when groups naturally exist, reducing logistics involved in managing dispersed individuals and possibly providing insight into group dynamics or collective behaviors within tutor groups .

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