Question Set H Prompt:

Random sampling is a more important consideration than random assignment if the research question is whether faculty tend to drive older cars than students drive on your campus.

Question

Question Set H Prompt:

Random sampling is a more important consideration than random assignment if the research question is whether faculty tend to drive older cars than students drive on your campus.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To approach this statement, we first consider what each methodological tool does in a research study. Random sampling aims to make the sample representative of the broader population, which supports generalizing findings beyond the participants actually studied. Random assignment, on the other hand, is about creating equivalent groups to support causal inferences when you manipulate an exposure or treatment.

Option: 'Random sampling is a more important consideration than random assignment if the research question is whether faculty tend to drive older cars than students drive on your campus.' In this observational comparison between two pre-existing groups (faculty vs students), there is no experimental manipulation to assign individuals to faculty or student status. Therefore, random assignment would not be feasible or relevant for answering the question as stated. What matters most for answering whether faculty tend to drive older cars on your campus is how well the sample represents the campus population, i.e., the sampling strategy, so that the observed difference in car age reflects the broader campus patterns rather than sampling bias. This makes random sampling a more important consideration for this particular research question.

Counterpoints are worth noting: if the aim were to establish a causal effect of being faculty versus student on car age (perhaps through an intervention or assignment to a role, which is typically impossible or unethical in this context), random assignment would then hypothetically be central. However, given the phrasing focuses on whether faculty tend to drive older cars than students, the descriptive/comparative question hinges on representativeness rather than causality. Hence, the statement emphasizing the primacy of random sampling for generalizing the observed difference is reasonably justified.

In sum, since the research question describes a comparison between two natural groups and does not involve randomizing participants to groups, random sampling plays the key role in ensuring the finding reflects campus-wide patterns, while random assignment is not applicable to this scenario.

Su25-STATS-141-01/BIO-141-01 Homework 4: Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit Test, Causation Claims, & Generalization Claims

Question Set H Prompt: Random sampling is a more important consideration than random assignment if the research question is whether faculty tend to drive older cars than students drive on your campus.

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