Question

the owner of a shopping mall wishes to expand the number of shops available in the food court. she has a market researcher survey the first 100 customers who come into the food court during weekend afternoons to determine what types of food the shoppers would like to see added to the food court. complete parts (a) and (b) below. (a) the survey has bias. determine whether the flaw is due to the sampling method or the survey itself. for biased surveys, identify the cause of the error. what is the cause of the bias? a. nonresponse b. sampling bias c. response bias (b) suggest a remedy to the problem. which of the following is the best way to remedy this problem? a. increase the sample size so that more people respond to the question. b. reword the question so that it is balanced. c. ask customers throughout the day on both weekdays and weekends.

Explanation:

(a) The survey only samples weekend afternoon customers, which is a non-representative group of all food court patrons. This flaw stems from the way the sample is selected, which is sampling bias.
(b) To fix the sampling bias, the sample needs to include a broader, more representative group of customers. Sampling across different times (throughout the day) and both weekdays and weekends will capture the preferences of all types of food court visitors.

Answer:

(a) B. Sampling bias
(b) C. Ask customers throughout the day on both weekdays and weekends.