AP U.S. Government topic quiz4 questions

4.5 Measuring Public Opinion

Choose the best answer, check your reasoning, and use the explanation to correct any gap.

Question 1

Question 1 of 4

A county survey selects a probability sample from its current registered-voter file. A headline reports the result as the opinion of all county adults, including people who are not registered. What is the central inference problem?

The central defect is coverage: unregistered adults belong to the claimed population but have no chance to be selected from the voter file. Nonresponse, sampling error, measurement, and weighting variance are possible concerns in many surveys, but none explains this explicit mismatch between frame and conclusion.
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B. The conclusion extends beyond the population covered by the voter-file frame

The central defect is coverage: unregistered adults belong to the claimed population but have no chance to be selected from the voter file. Nonresponse, sampling error, measurement, and weighting variance are possible concerns in many surveys, but none explains this explicit mismatch between frame and conclusion.

Question 2

Question 2 of 4

A questionnaire asks, “Do you agree that the wasteful licensing system should finally be modernized?” What is the item's main measurement problem?

Words such as “wasteful” and “finally” signal a preferred judgment, while “modernized” leaves the actual action unclear. The answer may measure reaction to the frame rather than a position on a defined policy. Sampling and margin-of-error choices do not solve that wording problem.
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C. Its loaded language encourages approval without specifying the proposed change

Words such as “wasteful” and “finally” signal a preferred judgment, while “modernized” leaves the actual action unclear. The answer may measure reaction to the frame rather than a position on a defined policy. Sampling and margin-of-error choices do not solve that wording problem.

Question 3

Question 3 of 4

A trade association increases its random sample of members from 500 to 2,000 but continues to report the result as the view of all workers in the industry, including nonmembers. What does the larger sample most likely change?

More sampled members generally reduce random sampling error for estimates about association members. The larger count does not add nonmembers to the frame, change the target population, repair nonresponse, or improve an unchanged question, so the claim about all workers remains unsupported.
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D. It improves precision for members while leaving nonmember undercoverage unresolved

More sampled members generally reduce random sampling error for estimates about association members. The larger count does not add nonmembers to the frame, change the target population, repair nonresponse, or improve an unchanged question, so the claim about all workers remains unsupported.

Question 4

Question 4 of 4

A research team randomly selects addresses from a statewide frame, randomly selects one adult within each sampled household, and then randomly assigns responding adults to hear either a neutral or emotionally vivid introduction to the same proposal. What purpose is served by the two-stage random selection?

Randomly selecting households and then one adult within each creates the basis for generalizing from respondents to the covered state adult population, subject to response and other design limits. Random assignment, not selection, balances the wording groups and supports the causal comparison between introductions.
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A. It supports generalization from respondents to the covered state adult population

Randomly selecting households and then one adult within each creates the basis for generalizing from respondents to the covered state adult population, subject to response and other design limits. Random assignment, not selection, balances the wording groups and supports the causal comparison between introductions.

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