To determine the percentage of patients who follow the advice of their personal physician, researchers asked 200 randomly chosen physicians to put the question to their patients. Of the 2,400 patients surveyed, 98 percent replied that they did indeed follow their doctor’s advice. We may therefore conclude that at least 96 percent of the patients across the nation follow the advice of their personal physician.
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This conclusion is not valid. The researchers only surveyed a sample of 2,400 patients out of the entire population, so we cannot generalize the findings to all patients across the nation. Additionally, the fact that 98 percent of the surveyed patients said they follow their doctor's advice does not guarantee that the same percentage applies to all patients. There may be factors that influenced the responses in this particular sample, such as the doctors' selection of patients or patients feeling socially pressured to answer positively. To determine the percentage of patients who follow their physician's advice nationwide, a larger and more representative sample would be needed.