Question

You want to measure the athleticism of the average Hamiltonian (a person who lives in Hamilton). When recruiting participants, which of the following is the least favourable strategy?

1) Recruiting randomly from various gyms in Hamilton.
2) Recruiting people of different ages and gender.
3) Recruiting randomly from both the university population and the general public.
4) Recruiting randomly from various Hamilton locations.

Answer 1

The least favourable strategy for measuring the athleticism of the average Hamiltonian is recruiting only from various gyms, as it introduces bias by oversampling athletic individuals. Stratified, cluster, and snowball sampling strategies are employed in different scenarios, each suited for specific populations and research goals. Selection bias often distorts the representativeness of samples in research studies.

Step-by-step explanation:

To measure the athleticism of the average Hamiltonian, the least favourable recruitment strategy would be recruiting randomly from various gyms in Hamilton. This approach poses a bias as it doesn't represent the entire population of Hamilton since gym-goers are more likely to be athletic than the average person. To achieve a representative sample that reflects the average athleticism, one should recruit a diverse set of individuals that mirrors the broader population's characteristics.

Examining the sampling methods provided:

• A soccer coach using age-based stratification is employing a stratified sampling method.
• A pollster who interviews all human resource personnel from certain companies is using a cluster sampling method.
• An educational researcher interviewing an equal number of male and female teachers is using a stratified sampling method again.

For the collaborative exercise, students must critically assess whether samples are representative. For instance, using only honor students to represent the average GPA of all students in a high school introduces a selection bias. Similarly, surveying every twentieth child under age 10 entering a supermarket doesn't necessarily capture the most popular cereal among all young people, as it omits those who don't shop at that supermarket or visit during the sampling time.

In the given snowball sampling strategy example, this method allows for the collection of qualitative data in populations that might be otherwise hard to reach.

Lastly, to find the average educational level of citizens using only campus individuals leads to an unrepresentative and distorted sample due to selection bias.