Question

determining appropriate sampling techniques
the basketball players at rafaels middle school are selling t-shirts, and he wants to determine the average number of shirts that have been sold. first he surveyed five members of the 7th-grade boys basketball team. then he surveyed every third basketball player on the boys and girls 6th- through 8th-grade basketball teams. which sampling technique should produce a more representative sample?
○ the first sampling method (7th graders) is the most representative.
○ the second sampling method (6th-8th graders) is the most representative.
○ both samples should be exactly the same.
○ neither sample will be representative.

Explanation:

The first method only samples 7th-grade boys, which excludes 6th, 8th graders and all girls, so it is not representative. The second method uses systematic random sampling across all 6th-8th grade boys and girls on basketball teams, covering the full relevant group, making it representative. The samples are not the same, and the second one is representative, not neither.

Answer:

The second sampling method (6th–8th graders) is the most representative.