For a television program about astrology, investigators went into the street and found twenty volunteers born under t...
alliegratDecember 27, 2021
Would this be an example of an unrepresentative sample?
I have gotten this question right, but would just like to confirm that the "sociable, extroverted Geminis" who were chosen based on their willingness to be interviewed, are an example of an unrepresentative sample.
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Hi @alliegrat The issue here is indeed an unrepresentative sample, although the issue is not that they only interviewed geminis. While it is true that geminis are not representative of the general population, the argument only makes a conclusion about people in that sample. It would be wrong to make a conclusion about people other than geminis from a sample of geminis, but the conclusion is based around studying geminis and then generalizing the fact that if geminis have a certain trait that astrology must be able to impact traits.
It is unrepresentative because the geminis they interviewed (people willing to talk to strangers) may not be representative of geminis as a whole.
