A factory has 20 assembly lines producing a popular toy. To inspect a representative sample of 100 toys, quality control staff randomly selected 5 toys from each line's output. Was this a simple random sample?
A) Yes, because the toys were selected at random.
B) Yes, because each toy produced had an equal chance to be selected.
C) No, because toys do not come off the assembly line at random.
D) No, because not all combinations of 100 toys could have been chosen.
E) Yes, because a stratified sample is a type of simple random sample.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is not a simple random sample because by selecting exactly 5 toys from each line, not all combinations of 100 toys had an equal chance of being chosen. A simple random sample requires that every possible sample of the desired size has an equal chance of being selected, which is not the case here.

A Factory Has 20 Assembly Lines Producing a Popular Toy