To determine if Liam's sample is biased, let's look at how he selected the students.
Step 1: Understand the Goal
Liam wants to know about *all* seventh-grade students in his school (the population). There are 250 students in total.
Step 2: Analyze the Method
Liam uses a specific method to pick who he will interview:
1. He gives every single student a number from 1 to 250.
2. He uses a computer or tool to generate a
random list of 40 numbers.
3. He interviews only the students whose numbers were picked.
Step 3: Check for Bias
A sample is considered "biased" if the method favors certain people over others. For example, if Liam only asked his friends, or only asked students in the art club, that would be biased because it doesn't represent the whole group fairly.
However, Liam used
random selection. By numbering everyone and picking numbers randomly, every single student had an equal chance of being chosen. No specific group (like athletes, honor roll students, or boys/girls) was favored.
Conclusion
Because the selection was random and gave everyone an equal opportunity to be picked, the sample is representative of the whole population. It is not biased.
Final Answer:
No
Parent Tip: Review the logic above to help your child master the concept of random and biased samples worksheet.
