staff members of a high school newspaper want to obtain an estimate of the average number of years teachers in the state have been teaching. at an educational conference attended by many teachers in the state, the staff members randomly selected 50 conference attendees and asked the attendees how long they have been teaching. which of the following describes the sample and the population to which it would be most reasonable for the staff members to generalize the results?
Describing Sample and Population in a Study
Sample: In this scenario, the sample refers to the 50 conference attendees who were randomly selected and asked about the number of years they have been teaching at the educational conference. The sample is a subset of individuals from the larger population of all teachers in the state.
Population: The population in this study would be all teachers in the state. It includes every teacher working in schools across the state, not just the ones attending the educational conference. The staff members intend to generalize the results of the survey conducted at the conference to this larger group of teachers in the state.
Generalization: It would be most reasonable for the staff members to generalize the survey results to all teachers in the state, as the ultimate goal is to estimate the average number of years teachers in the entire state have been teaching. By randomly selecting conference attendees, the staff members aim to gather data that can be used to make inferences about the population of all teachers in the state.