Mathematics 9709 · AS & A Level · Sampling and estimation

Sampling and estimation — practice question

Andy and Jessica are carrying out a survey on musical preferences. They intend to select a representative sample of six students from the 256 students at their college.
(a)[1]

Andy suggests going to the music building during the lunch hour and choosing six students at random from those who are there. State one reason why this method is unsatisfactory.

(b)[2]

Jessica decides to use another method. She numbers all the students in the college from $1$ to $256$. She then uses her calculator and generates the following random numbers: $204393$, $162007$, $204028$, $587119$, $207395$. From these numbers, she obtains six student numbers. The first three of her student numbers are $204$, $162$ and $7$. Continue Jessica’s method to obtain the next three student numbers.

Worked solution & mark scheme

This 3-mark question has a full step-by-step worked solution and mark scheme. One marking point: Gives a valid reason for bias, for example: the sample is not representative or the opinions are not independent

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