Chapter MCQ Test 2 — Collection of Data
10 Questions • 12 min • Chapter MCQ
12:00
Question 1 of 10
A researcher surveys 500 students about study hours, contacting each one herself. The data she gets are:
Primary data collected by direct personal investigation
Secondary data
Published data
Sampling error
Explanation: Collected first-hand by face-to-face questioning, the data are primary, via direct personal investigation.
Question 2 of 10
A TV-rating agency studies a few thousand households instead of all households. It is using the sample method mainly because studying everyone would be:
Too costly and slow
More accurate and cheap
Impossible in theory
Illegal
Explanation: A full census of all households is too expensive and time-consuming, so a representative sample is used.
Question 3 of 10
Before using figures from a 10-year-old report, an economist must first check whether the data are:
Reliable and suited to the present purpose
Primary
Free of charge
Hand-written
Explanation: Secondary data must be checked for reliability and suitability before reuse.
Question 4 of 10
An enquiry into people's drinking habits is best done by indirect oral investigation because informants:
May be unwilling to answer directly
Are always honest
Cannot speak
Live far away only
Explanation: When direct answers are unreliable or refused, questioning knowledgeable others (witnesses) works better.
Question 5 of 10
A mailed questionnaire is unsuitable for a village with many illiterate adults because they:
Cannot read or fill it themselves
Have no address
Dislike paper
Are too busy
Explanation: Only literate informants can complete a mailed questionnaire; the schedule method suits illiterate respondents.
Question 6 of 10
The Census of India uses enumerators to fill schedules because this method:
Works for a huge population including illiterate people
Is the cheapest
Needs no staff
Studies only a sample
Explanation: Trained enumerators filling schedules make complete enumeration possible even where informants cannot read.
Question 7 of 10
A sample drawn only from one rich neighbourhood to represent a whole city is faulty because it is not:
Representative of the whole population
Large enough only
Written down
Primary
Explanation: A biased, unrepresentative sample cannot reflect the diverse population, leading to wrong conclusions.
Question 8 of 10
Choosing every 10th name from a list is an example of:
Systematic sampling
Stratified sampling
Census
Direct personal investigation
Explanation: Selecting every nth unit is systematic sampling.
Question 9 of 10
Newspapers gathering news from local agents across the country is an example of collecting data through:
Correspondents
A schedule
A census
Direct personal investigation
Explanation: Local correspondents send in information regularly — cheap and wide, but less accurate.
Question 10 of 10
To reduce sampling error, an investigator should use a sample that is:
Large and randomly, representatively chosen
Very small
From one group only
Picked by personal liking
Explanation: A large, random, representative sample minimises the gap between sample and population values.