You want to determine the number of text messages students at your school make in a month. You select 10 freshmen, 10 sophomores, 10 juniors, and 10 seniors to ask,
a. random
b. systematic
c. stratified
Would the answer be systematic
No, the answer would actually be stratified sampling.
Stratified sampling involves dividing the population into smaller groups, often called strata, based on certain characteristics or criteria. In this scenario, the population consists of all students at your school, and the characteristic we are interested in is the grade level (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors).
By selecting 10 students from each grade level, you are ensuring that your sample represents the different strata or groups proportionally. This allows for a more accurate representation of the entire student population and provides more reliable insights into the number of text messages students make in a month.
On the other hand, random sampling involves selecting individuals from the population at random without any consideration for specific characteristics or criteria. Systematic sampling, on the other hand, involves selecting individuals at fixed intervals from an ordered list. Neither of these methods account for the different grade levels in this scenario, so they would not be appropriate choices for this particular sampling situation.