Question 4 • Probability and Statistics with Applications Honors Sem-1-FL-1210300 (2024-2025)
A trade school would like to measure the long-term success of their graduates after they leave the school. The school emails a survey requesting information from graduates about their work experience. One question asks graduates to share their annual salary, and the results of the question will be shared in a brochure for incoming students. Is it likely that the survey results will provide an accurate estimate of mean annual salary for all of the school’s graduates?
Answer
A
The survey will provide a reasonable estimate of mean annual salary because all graduates were sent the email survey.
B
The survey will likely overestimate mean annual salary because those with higher salaries may be more likely to respond to the survey.
C
The survey will likely underestimate mean annual salary because there may be more graduates with lower salaries than higher salaries.
D
The survey will likely overestimate the mean annual salary because the email was only sent to graduates with jobs in their chosen field.
Explanation
Because graduates choose whether to respond, the survey may have nonresponse bias. Graduates with higher salaries may be more likely to share their success, which would pull the reported mean upward and make it overestimate the mean for all graduates. Sending the email to everyone does not ensure that everyone responds.
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