Political Views A sample of 30 registered voters was surveyed in which the respondents were asked, “Do you consider your political views to be conservative, moderate, or liberal?” The results of the survey are shown in the table.
a. Determine the mode political view.
b. Do you think it would be a good idea to rotate the choices conservative, moderate, or liberal in the question? Why?

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Count the frequency of each political view (Liberal, Conservative, Moderate) from the sample of 30 responses. This means tally how many times each category appears in the table.
2. Step 2: Identify the mode by determining which political view has the highest frequency count. The mode is the category that appears most often in the data set.
3. Step 3: For part b, consider the concept of response bias in surveys. Think about whether the order of choices (Conservative, Moderate, Liberal) might influence how respondents answer, potentially causing bias.
4. Step 4: Reflect on the idea of rotating the order of choices to reduce any order bias. Explain why rotating the choices might help ensure that no particular option is favored simply because of its position in the list.
5. Step 5: Summarize your reasoning by discussing how rotating choices can improve the reliability and validity of survey responses by minimizing the effect of question order on respondents' answers.

Key Concepts

Mode

The mode is the value that appears most frequently in a data set. In categorical data like political views, the mode identifies the most common category among respondents. It helps summarize the data by highlighting the most typical response.

Frequency Distribution

Frequency distribution is a summary of how often each category or value occurs in a data set. Counting the number of times each political view appears allows us to organize and analyze the data effectively, which is essential for determining the mode.

Survey Question Design and Response Bias

The order of response choices in a survey can influence how respondents answer, known as response bias. Rotating choices (randomizing order) helps reduce this bias, ensuring more accurate and reliable data by preventing respondents from favoring options based on their position.