Question

3 multiple choice 1 point
a book club wanted to determine the average number of books read each year by residents of a certain town, so it conducted a survey of 100 patrons of the towns public library. the average number of books read per year by these 100 patrons was 51.5. which of the following statements must be true based on this information?
the survey is biased due to a poor choice of sampling method.
the average number of books read annually by all the towns residents is 51.5.
the survey is not biased and will likely produce a correct estimate of the number of books read annually by towns residents.
the average number of books read per town resident per year cannot be determined from such a small sample.

Explanation:

The sample only includes library patrons, who are not representative of all town residents (as non-library users are excluded). This makes the sampling method biased, as the group surveyed is more likely to read more books than the general population. The sample mean cannot be assumed to equal the population mean, and the issue is not sample size but sampling bias.

Answer:

A. The survey is biased due to a poor choice of sampling method.