Short questions and answers
Here is the full short answer set with each question followed immediately by its answer, clean and ready to copy.
Short Answer Questions + Answers
Section 1: Survey Design & Bias
Q1
A survey asks:
“Do you support banning prayer in public schools so that teachers have more time to teach?”
a. Identify two problems with this question
b. Explain why each problem is an issue
c. Rewrite the question to make it unbiased
Answer:
a. The question is leading and double-barrelled.
b. It is leading because it suggests a benefit (“more time to teach”), which may influence respondents to agree. It is double-barrelled because it combines two ideas: banning prayer and improving teaching time.
c. A better question is: “Do you support or oppose prayer in public schools?”
Q2
Two survey questions are asked:
“Should schools allow prayer?”
“Should schools not allow prayer?”
a. Explain how wording may affect responses
b. Which question is more likely to confuse respondents? Explain why
Answer:
a. Wording can affect responses because slight changes may confuse respondents or lead them toward a particular answer.
b. The second question is more confusing because the negative wording can be misinterpreted.
Q3
A survey asks:
“Do you support a tax on junk food to fund programs to fight obesity?”
a. Identify the issue with this question
b. Explain how it may affect responses
Answer:
a. The question is leading.
b. The phrase “to fund programs to fight obesity” makes the tax sound beneficial, which may encourage people to support it.
Section 2: Validity, Reliability, Measurement
Q4
A survey measures academic success by asking students how confident they feel.
a. Is this valid?
b. Explain why or why not
Answer:
a. This is not valid.
b. Confidence does not directly measure academic success, so it does not capture what it is supposed to measure.
Q5
A scale gives different readings each time a person is weighed.
a. Which principle is violated?
b. Explain why
Answer:
a. Reliability is violated.
b. The results are inconsistent, so the measurement is not dependable.
Q6
Give:
a. One example of a valid categorical variable
b. One example of something reliable but biased
c. One example of something unbiased but not reliable
Answer:
a. Type of school attended (public or private).
b. “Do you agree that teachers are underpaid?” (consistent but leading).
c. “How do you feel today?” (not leading but inconsistent).
Section 3: Sampling & Representativeness
Q7
A study samples trees only along a dirt road in a forest.
a. Identify the sampling method
b. Explain why the sample may not be representative
Answer:
a. Systematic sampling.
b. The sample may not be representative because trees near the road may differ from those deeper in the forest.
Q8
A study uses volunteers who respond to an advertisement.
a. What type of sampling is this?
b. Explain one limitation
Answer:
a. Voluntary response sampling.
b. It may be biased because participants choose to take part and may not represent the population.
Q9
A study surveys 1000 people, but only 340 respond.
a. Identify the issue
b. Explain why this is a problem
Answer:
a. Non-response bias.
b. Those who respond may differ from those who do not, so the results may not represent the population.
Section 4: Margin of Error
Q10
A survey reports that 53% of people support a policy with a margin of error of ±2%.
a. Interpret this result
b. Write the interval
Answer:
a. The true population percentage is likely close to 53% within a small range.
b. The interval is 51% to 55%.
Q11
Explain what margin of error tells us about a sample result.
Answer:
Margin of error describes the uncertainty in a sample estimate and shows how close it is likely to be to the true population value.
Section 5: Variables
Q12
Classify each variable:
a. Years of tertiary education
b. Highest level of education
c. Brand of car
d. Price of last car
Answer:
a. Measurement
b. Categorical
c. Categorical
d. Measurement
Q13
Classify each as discrete or continuous:
a. Number of tries
b. Percentage of wins
c. Number of words
d. Weight
Answer:
a. Discrete
b. Continuous
c. Discrete
d. Continuous
Section 6: Experimental Design
Q14
A study allows participants to choose their treatment group.
a. What type of study is this?
b. Why is this a problem?
Answer:
a. Observational study.
b. It is a problem because participants choosing their group may introduce confounding variables.
Q15
Explain why randomisation is important in experiments.
Answer:
Randomisation helps balance confounding variables between groups, making comparisons fair.
Q16
Explain what a control group is and why it is important.
Answer:
A control group is a group that does not receive the treatment and is used as a baseline for comparison.
Q17
Explain what a double-blind study is and why it is used.
Answer:
A double-blind study means neither participants nor researchers know who receives the treatment, which reduces bias.
Section 7: Confounding & Causation
Q18
A study finds that people who drink more water perform better in exams.
a. Can causation be concluded?
b. Explain why
c. Give one confounding variable
Answer:
a. No.
b. It is observational and other variables may affect the result.
c. Study time.
Q19
Explain what a confounding variable is.
Answer:
A confounding variable affects both the explanatory and response variables, making it difficult to determine cause and effect.
Section 8: Study Types
Q20
Explain the difference between an observational study and a randomized experiment.
Answer:
An observational study observes existing differences, while a randomized experiment assigns treatments to test cause and effect.
Q21
Why can observational studies not prove causation?
Answer:
Because confounding variables are not controlled.
Section 9: Data Sleuthing (Applied)
Q22
A study does not explain how participants were selected.
Explain why this is a limitation.
Answer:
We cannot determine if the sample is representative of the population.
Q23
A study does not explain how data was measured.
Explain why this is a problem.
Answer:
Unclear measurements may reduce validity and accuracy.
Q24
A study compares two groups but does not mention differences between them.
Explain why this is an issue.
Answer:
Other differences may affect the results, making comparisons unfair.
Section 10: Interpretation
Q25
A dataset is strongly skewed to the right.
a. Which measure of centre should be used?
b. Explain why
Answer:
a. Median
b. It is not affected by outliers
Q26
Explain why the mean is affected by outliers.
Answer:
Extreme values pull the average higher or lower.
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