Chapter 12, Problem 15E

To determine

To explain do you think the station’s faculty prediction is more likely to be a result of bias or sampling error.

Answer to Problem 15E

The station's faulty prediction is more likely to be the result of bias.

Explanation of Solution

It is given in the question that a local TV station conducted a pulse poll about the upcoming mayoral election. Evening news viewers were invited to phone in their votes, with the results to be announced on the late night news. Thus, the station's faulty prediction is more likely to be the result of bias because only people watching the news were able to respond and their opinions were likely different from those of other voters. The sampling method may have systematically produced samples that did not represent the population of interest.