Question C2 Page 309 Chapter 7a Sportswriter Wants To Know

Question C2 Page 309 Chapter 7a Sportswriter Wants To Know How Stron

The sportswriter stands outside a stadium before a game and interviews the first 30 people who enter to gauge the level of support for the Indianapolis Indians. The assignment asks to comment on the approach taken by the sportswriter in performing the survey, including potential biases and limitations.

Paper For Above instruction

The approach employed by the sportswriter to assess community support for the Indianapolis Indians involves interviewing the first 30 individuals entering the stadium. While this method offers some initial insights, it is fraught with several methodological issues that undermine its representativeness and validity. The primary concern is the potential for selection bias, which arises because this sample is restricted to early entrants, possibly differing systematically from those arriving later or those who do not attend the game at all.

Firstly, the sample is not random across the entire population of Indianapolis residents but rather a convenience sample of stadium attendees. This approach neglects individuals who support the team but do not attend games, as well as those who do attend at different times or prefer other activities. Moreover, the sample could be biased because individuals arriving early might have different demographic or attitudinal characteristics compared to the broader population. For instance, early arrivals might be more dedicated fans or have more flexible schedules, which might not reflect the opinions of the entire community.

Additionally, this sampling method ignores potential confounding variables such as age, income, ethnicity, or prior support, which could influence opinions but are not controlled in this scenario. Consequently, the findings from this small, convenience sample cannot be generalized reliably to the entire Indianapolis community. The survey's validity critically hinges on employing a random sampling technique that ensures each resident has an equal chance of selection, thus providing a representative picture of community support.

In conclusion, the sportswriter’s approach is limited by its non-random, convenience sampling method, which introduces biases and limits the generalizability of the results. A more rigorous approach would involve randomly selecting residents from a comprehensive sampling frame, possibly through stratified random sampling to ensure representation across different demographic groups, thereby producing more accurate and reliable insights into community support.

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