SCORE Mathematics
Definition
A voluntary response sample consists of people who chose themselves by responding to a general appeal. (Be Aware) They often over represent people with strong opinions, most often negative opinions.
Example
For example, if there was pre-election coverage taking place on TV and the screen provided a number a person could call to "vote" for or against a certain candidate being interviewed, the people watching would be able to choose whether or not they wanted to take part in the survey, and thus this would be a voluntary response sample.
Case Study
The advice columnist Ann Landers once asked her readers, "If you had it to do over again, would you have children?" A few weeks later, her column was headlined "70% OF PARENTS SAY KIDS NOT WORTH IT." Indeed 70% of the nearly 10,000 parents who wrote in said they would not have children if they could make the choice again.
These data are worthless as indicators of opinion among all American parents. The people who responded felt strongly enough to take the trouble to write Ann Landers. Their letters showed that many of them were angry at their children. These people don't fairly represent all parents. It is not surprising that a statistically designed opinion poll on the same issue a few months later found that 91% of parents would have children again. Ann Landers announced a 70% "No" result when the truth about parents was close to 90% "Yes."
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