A local newspaper wanted to decide if it should mail its papers to its subscribers instead of having them delivered by hand. It hired a group of telephone interviewers to phone a sample of its subscribers. Since not everybody has a listed phone number, all families in the area did not have an equal chance of being called. As a result, this CANNOT be considered a(n) _____ sample.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since not all families had an equal chance of being selected due to the reliance on listed phone numbers, the sample cannot be considered a random sample. Random sampling requires that every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

A Local Newspaper Wanted to Decide If It Should Mail