Inferences from Samples about Populations

There are 400 students at Polly's school. She surveyed a random sample of 80 students to find their favorite hobby. 19 said they like to read. 30 said they like to be with friends. 8 said they like to do crafts. 23 said they like to play sports. Polly infers that doing crafts is the least popular hobby at her school. Refer to the data table. Polly surveys two more samples. Do the results from these samples support the inference made from the first sample?

• Yes, the survey results support the inference that doing crafts is the least popular hobby at Polly's school.

• No, the survey results does not support the inference that doing crafts is the least popular hobby at Polly's school.

Ana wants to know the average student’s opinion of the tardy policy at her school. Which group of students should she survey in order to achieve the most accurate results?

• Thirty randomly selected students from her school

• Thirty students who are rarely tardy

• thirty of her friends

The Magic Kingdom theme park has many attractions, one of which is Space Mountain. Are the people who ride Space Mountain the population, or a sample, of the theme park? Explain.

• Population. They are all the people at the theme park.

• Sample. They are a subset of all the people at the theme park.

• Both population and sample. They are all the people at the theme park

• Neither population nor sample. They are not the people at the theme park.

Lucy collects data from a random sample of seventh-graders. Out of 40 respondents, 7 attend after-school programs. Of the 200 seventh-graders attending Lucy’s school, how many would be expected to attend afterschool programs?

What inference can you draw from this survey?

• I can infer that most students in this school like pizza.

• I can infer that very few students like hamburgers.

• I can infer that their favorite is corn dogs.

• I can infer that most students in this school like hamburgers.

The table shows the results of a survey of 200 people attending a hockey game.
The attendance for the hockey game is about 25,000 visitors each game.  Based on the table, how many people out of 25,000 could be expected to buy a pennant?

• 1,375

• 1,650

• 2,750

• 3,850

A travel club has 3,000 members. A random sample of 50 of the club members found that 12 people like mountain vacations best. Which statement is NOT supported by the sample data?

• Twenty-four percent of those sampled say they like mountain vacations best.

• An estimated 720 club members would likely say they enjoy mountain vacations best.

• Almost one-quarter of club members would likely say they enjoy mountain vacations best.

• More than 2,500 club members would likely say they prefer other vacations over mountain vacations.

Caleb is comparing the growth of plants using two different fertilizers. Use the measures of center from the box plots to make an inference about the data.

• Based on the means, plants in Group A grew more than plants in Group B

• Based on the means, plants in Group B grew more than plants in Group A.

• Based on the medians, plants in Group A grew more than plants in Group B

• Based on the medians, plants in Group B grew more than plants in Group A.

The dot plot shows a random sample of the number of fish caught and released by 30 participants during a two-day fishing derby.

Use the mean value of each data set to make an inference about the number of fish caught each day.

• On average, most participants caught and released 5 or more fish.

• More participants caught 6 fish than any other number.

• The same participants who caught and released 1 fish the first day caught and released 1 fish the second day.

• On average, participants caught and released more fish on Day 2.

Margo wants to convince her father to change her curfew from 9 P.M. to 10 P.M. She gathers data on curfew times from a random sample of students at her middle school. Can Margo use these data to present a valid inference that will convince her father? Explain.

• Yes; Most students have a curfew of 10 P.M. or later.

• Yes; More students have a curfew of 9 P.M. than any other time.

• No; Most students have a curfew of 9 P.M. or earlier.

• No; More students have a curfew of 10 P.M. or 11 P.M. than 8 P.M.