A professor wants to determine information about the Internet usage of middle school students in one state. A sample of 500 boys and girls from middle schools across the state were asked, “How do you access the Internet when you are not at school?” Which best explains why the sample can be used to determine statistics that apply to the population?

Question

A professor wants to determine information about the Internet usage of middle school students in one state. A sample of 500 boys and girls from middle schools across the state were asked, “How do you access the Internet when you are not at school?” Which best explains why the sample can be used to determine statistics that apply to the population?
The sample represents the population.
The sample is larger than the population.
Each person in the population knows at least one person included in the sample.
Each person in the sample has Internet access while they are not at school.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The best explanation for why the sample can be used to determine statistics that apply to the population is:

The sample represents the population.

This means that the sample of 500 boys and girls from middle schools across the state is likely to reflect the characteristics and Internet usage patterns of all middle school students in that state, assuming that the sample is selected in a way that is representative of the entire population.