Practice question · True or false
Increasing the size of a self-selected sample reduces the bias in its estimates.
Hints
- Ask which of the two sources of error size affects.
- The 1936 poll is the standard demonstration.
Show the answer
False
Why
False. Size reduces sampling error, the random component. Bias is fixed by the selection procedure and does not shrink at all; a larger self-selected sample simply estimates the wrong quantity more precisely, which is the trap that destroyed the Literary Digest.
Practise Analysing Social Processes
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