Chapter 6.5, Problem 5E

Solution

To determine: whether the question may be biased or otherwise introduce bias into the survey and describe a way to correct the flaw.

The question is biased question.

Given information:

The given statement is “The tap water coming from our western water supply contains twice the level of arsenic of water from our eastern supply. Do you think the government should address his health problem”.

Concept Used:

Biased questions:

Questions that are flawed in a way that leads to inaccurate results are called biased questions. Questions may be biased in several ways:

The wording of the question may encourage or pressure the respondent to answer in a particular way.

The question may be perceived as too sensitive to answer truthfully.

The question may not provide the respondent with enough information to give an accurate opinion.

Calculation:

Arsenic is extremely poisonous to humans, having to say that a water supply contains twice more levels of arsenic than the other can shock people and say “yes” for an answer.

But because arsenic is only deadly when it gets to a high level.

What if the level of arsenic is low and even twice if it is not considered harmful for people, then most people were tricked due to lack of information.

The survey should have said the full story about the water supply and also shown the data about the arsenic levels in both water supplies.