Advice Columnist Ann Landers Once Asked Her Readers with Children

question 26

Multiple Choice

Advice columnist Ann Landers once asked her readers with children to answer the following question: "If you had it to do over again, would you have children?" Readers were invited to send a response to this question by mail. Of the approximately 10,000 responses Landers received, approximately 70% said "no." The sample:

• A)is probably representative of all parents.
• B)is probably not representative of all parents, because people who feel very strongly about this issue are more likely to respond than people who do not.
• C)has little bias, because more than 10,000 people responded, yielding a very large sample.
• D)is probably not representative, because more than 10,000 people responded.

---

Definitions:

Spurious Relationships

Relationships where two variables appear to be related due to a coincidence or a third, unseen factor, rather than a direct cause-and-effect link.

Researcher

An individual who systematically investigates and studies materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

Online Experiments

Research studies conducted over the internet, allowing for the collection of data from a wide and diverse group of participants.

Causality

The relationship between cause and effect, where one variable is demonstrated to directly cause a change in another variable.