Shortly Before an Election, a Market Research Firm Took a Poll

question 76

Essay

Shortly before an election, a market research firm took a poll to find out whether people were planning to vote for or against a particular ballot measure. The results are shown below. $$\begin{array} { l c } \text { Position } & \text { Frequency } \\ \hline \text { Against } & 3087 \\ \text { In favor } & 3691 \\ \text { Undecided } & 910 \end{array}$$ The ballot measure will pass if a simple majority (more than 50%)vote in favor of the measure. You wish to construct a graph to represent the data. It should be easy to see from your graph whether more than 50% of the people are planning to vote in favor of the measure. Which graph would be more useful, a bar graph or a pie chart? Explain your thinking.

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Definitions:

Milgram Experiment

A psychological experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s to study obedience to authority, where participants were instructed to administer electric shocks to another person.

Stanford University Prison Experiment

A psychological study conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 at Stanford University, where students were assigned roles of prisoners and guards to explore the effects of perceived power.

Generalization

Drawing a conclusion about a certain characteristic of a population based on a sample from it.

Logical Support

The provision of reasons or evidence to justify a claim or argument.