Question

Question content area top
Part 1
Reasoning You are studying the colors of houses on a highly populated street. Decide whether or not each of the following descriptions is an example of systematic sampling. Use pencil and paper. Explain your reasoning for each decision.
You list the houses alphabetically by owner's last name comma and choose every fifth house on the list comma starting at the third.
You choose every seventh house on the street comma starting with the fourth. nothing
You choose the first and last 9 houses on the street. nothing
You start at the sixth house and choose the next 30 houses on the street. nothing
Question content area bottom
Part 1
Select each description that is an example of systematic sampling.

Answer 1

Systematic sampling picks every k-th element from an ordered list (usually after a start chosen from the first k).

- You list the houses alphabetically by owner's last name, and choose every fifth house on the list, starting at the third. — Yes. This is every 5th house from an ordered list (systematic). (Note: ideally the start would be chosen at random from 1–5 to avoid bias from ordering, but the procedure itself is systematic.)

- You choose every seventh house on the street, starting with the fourth. — Yes. This is every 7th house (systematic sampling).

- You choose the first and last 9 houses on the street. — No. This picks specific blocks, not every k-th unit, so it is not systematic.

- You start at the sixth house and choose the next 30 houses on the street. — No. This selects a consecutive run of houses, not a regular interval, so it is not systematic.

Selected as systematic: the first and second descriptions.