A movie theater conducted a survey to see what customers preferred at the concession stand. The theater asked every fifth person who entered the movie theater every Friday for a month what his or her favorite movie snack was. Were the results of the survey valid?

Question

A.
Yes, because the theater surveyed a random sample.
B.
Yes, because the theater only surveyed children.
C.
No, because the theater did not use a random sample.
D.
No, because the theater did not survey everyone in the theater.

Answer 1

The best answer is C. No, because the theater did not use a random sample.

This is because surveying every fifth person could introduce a bias, especially if there are patterns in attendance (e.g., families might attend together, leading to clustering of similar preferences that wouldn't be captured in a truly random sample). A random sample would involve selecting participants in such a way that every individual has an equal chance of being chosen, which doesn't occur in this case.