Investigating Statistics in the Media
In this assignment, you will be searching for where sampling has been used in the media within the past four
weeks. You will want to choose a source that is supposed to have real journalism, not satirical journalism like The
Onion. Once you have identified where sampling has been done and statistics have been used, you will answer the
prompts on the assignment form.
1. Identify the article and provide a link. (Remember: original article must have been posted within
the past four weeks.)
Title of Article: Fewer employed in March
URL of Article: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2020/16/fewer-employed-in-march
Date article was posted: April 16, 2020
Brief description of statistics studied in article: Increase in the percentage of people unemployed for
the montho of March 2020
2. What is the sample and what is the population for this situation?
Please remember that a sample is more than just a subset of a population. A sample is meant to be representative
of the population.
Population: Unemployed workforce
Sample: Additional people unemployed for the month of Month
3. What type of sampling was used and could it be biased?
Sampling Technique: Stratified sampling
Potential Bias: There may be groups that were not considered in the sample data
4. Could the statistics presented be misleading? Explain.
No. The statistics clearly show the percentage of people unemployed during the month of March 2020
5. Identify which variables were used in the situation, and classify those variables using terms such
as discrete, continuous, qualitative, quantitative, etc.
Remember that a variable will be some sort of recordable quality for each member of the sample. Examples could
include height, weight, eye color, etc.
Variable
Classification
Unemployment rate
Continuous, Quantitative
Unemployed individuals
Discrete, Quantitative
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