Question 29 • Probability and Statistics with Applications Honors Sem-1-FL-1210300 (2024-2025)
A township supervisor hopes to improve the current recycling program by having residents separate their recycled materials by type. For example, glass and plastic materials would be placed into separate recycling containers. To measure community support for a change to the recycling program, the supervisor visits a busy shopping area and asks randomly selected residents to respond to the following question: "Do you agree that responsible citizens would separate their recycled items by type of material?” What type of bias could be present in the survey results and what is a likely direction of the bias in estimating community support for the change to the recycling program?
Answer
A
This is question wording bias. The survey overestimates community support for change to the recycling program.
B
This is question wording bias. The survey underestimates community support for change to the recycling program.
C
This is voluntary response bias. The survey overestimates community support for change to the recycling program.
D
This is voluntary response bias. The survey underestimates community support for change to the recycling program.
Explanation
The phrase “responsible citizens” makes separating materials sound like the socially responsible answer, pressuring respondents to agree. That is question wording bias, and it is likely to make reported support higher than actual community support. The survey therefore overestimates support for the recycling change.
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