A sociologist studying freshmen at a major university carried out a survey, asking (among other questions) how often students went out per week, how many hours they studied per day, and how many hours they slept at night. Students will often overstate the number of hours studied, because they do not want to admit to not studying enough. This type of distortion is called:
A)false answer.
B)non-response bias.
C)undercoverage bias.
D)response bias.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The distortion described in the scenario is an example of response bias, where respondents provide inaccurate or misleading information in their answers. False answer is not a commonly used term in this context. Non-response bias occurs when a significant proportion of the sample does not respond to the survey, which is not described in the scenario. Undercoverage bias occurs when certain segments of the population are underrepresented in the sample, which is also not described in the scenario.

A Sociologist Studying Freshmen at a Major University Carried Out