Biased and Unbiased Surveys

You are doing a survey to find out if Knoxville, TN should be the home of a new NBA team and they only asked UT college boys basketball players.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

You are doing a survey to find out what kids really think about school lunch and you stand outside a lunchroom and ask every 5th person from every grade.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

You are doing a survey to find out what sport high schoolers like the most, and you only ask people from a Rugby team.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

Someone is conducting a survey and asks this question. What is your favorite soft drink? Sample is chosen by picking names out of a telephone book.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

You are conducting a survey and ask people the following question: Should more money be put into athletic programs or music programs at school? Sample is chosen from students in the band program.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

You want to know your town’s favorite fast-food restaurant. You randomly ask 30 people their preference as they leave a McDonald’s restaurant.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

A survey is taken to determine the projected winner for the upcoming presidential election, and you ask randomly selected people from the voter-registration list for each state.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

You want to conduct a study to determine the most popular sport at the Winter Olympics and you go to Hunter Mountain Ski Resort and ask 50 people.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

You want to find out what subject is a favorite of a middle school. You only ask Algebra I students in 8th grade.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)

To conduct a survey about the people of Wisconsin, 100 people were chosen from each county based on a recent census.

• Biased (Unfair)

• Unbiased (Fair)