Question

the mayor wants to know how the people of the city feel about a bottle tax. she sends her staff to a randomly selected block in each of the citys election districts. the staff members interview all the residents on the block that are home that day.

what is the population?
all the people in the city
all the people who live on the block
all the people who live on the block and are home that day

Explanation:

Identify the goal of the study

The mayor wants to know how "the people of the city" feel about a bottle tax. This represents the entire group that the mayor wishes to understand and draw conclusions about.

Define population in statistics

In statistics, the population is the entire group of individuals or instances about whom we hope to learn.

Distinguish between population and sample

The sample is the subset of the population that is actually observed or surveyed to gather data. Here, the staff members interview a subset of residents (those on randomly selected blocks who are home). This subset is the sample, whereas the target group of interest is the entire city.

Evaluate the given options

• "all the people in the city": This is the entire group the mayor wants to draw conclusions about, which matches the definition of the population.
• "all the people who live on the block": This represents a subset of the city, which is part of the sampling frame.
• "all the people who live on the block and are home that day": This is the actual sample of individuals who were interviewed.

Answer:

• all the people in the city (Correct answer)
• all the people who live on the block
• all the people who live on the block and are home that day