Question

A pharmaceutical company wants to study the effectiveness of a new drug in treating migraine headaches. For its trial, it gathers randomly selected volunteers regardless of their age, gender, or race. Is this an appropriate, random sample on which the pharmaceutical company can rely to draw its conclusions?(1 point)
Responses

There is not enough information to determine whether this is an appropriate, random sample for the population in this scenario.
There is not enough information to determine whether this is an appropriate, random sample for the population in this scenario.

Yes, this is an appropriate, random sample.
Yes, this is an appropriate, random sample.

No, this is not an appropriate, random sample. The company should only run the trial on volunteers age 50 and older.
No, this is not an appropriate, random sample. The company should only run the trial on volunteers age 50 and older.

No, this is not an appropriate, random sample. The company should only run the trial on female volunteers because migraine headaches are more common in women.

Answer 1

No — this is not an appropriate random sample. Using volunteers (self-selection) introduces volunteer bias and does not guarantee a representative sample of all migraine sufferers. The trial should randomly sample from the target population (people who actually have migraines) and ensure representativeness across relevant factors (age, sex, severity, etc.).