Question

A restaurant chain’s owners are trying to decide if they want to open up a franchise in your town. To help them decide, they conduct a telephone survey of people in your town. One of the survey questions is “Do you prefer Thai food or Chinese food?” Is the question biased? Explain.

Answer 1

Yes the question is biased because not everyone has a phone and the people who do, usually will not answer unknown phone calls. What more should i put @Fellowroot or @jim_thompson5910

Answer 2

You are correct. Ironically enough, the people that will be willing to answer may not be at home to do so (since they'll be out at a restaurant). The ones who can't afford to go and stay home won't be able to answer (and they may be unwilling to answer).

Answer 3

thank you! you very good @jim_thompson5910

Answer 4

yw

Answer 5

Is the question biased?

“Do you prefer Thai food or Chinese food?”

Explain.

Bias (definition) - to cause partiality or favoritism in (a person); influence, especially unfairly or unreasoned judgment.

The question is bias because it is showing favoritism towards Thai and Chinese food and assumes that people either prefer Thai or Chinese food. Clearly there exists plenty of people in the town who prefer foods other than Thai or Chinese.

The question is bias because there is no reason given in the original passage to conclude that the people in this town either like Thai or Chinese food.