Analyzing a Given Study
Poker on the Rise with Young Adults
For a national poll on casino visitation, a survey developed by TNS for Harrah's Entertainment was mailed to 100,000 American adults, of whom 57,205 participated. Of the respondents, 14,437 were identified as casino players. The survey revealed that 52.8 million US adults visited a casino in 2005, averaging 6.1 trips per person. It also showed that casino players were more affluent than the average American, with a median household income of $56,663 for casino customers versus $48,997 for the general population. They also had a slightly higher education level, with 56% of casino players having at least some college versus 53% of all American adults. This had been the norm over the past few years. What was surprising was the amount of young adults who played poker in 2005. To learn more about poker players, communications firm Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research conducted a telephone poll of 800 American adults who were selected using random digit sampling. In this poll, 18% of all the adults surveyed said they played poker in 2005, up from 12% in 2003. Younger adults played poker more than any other age group, with 35% of those aged 21-39 reporting they played in 2005, an increase of 6% from the previous year. This was followed by 18% of adults aged 40-49, 15% of adults aged 50-64, and 11% of those aged 65 or older.
Source: American Gaming Association. State of the States: The AGA Survey of Casino Entertainment. 2006
Analyze the surveys described above using the following exercises as a guide.
- Identify the populations being studied.
- Identify the samples and the sample sizes. Are the samples representative of the population? Explain your answer.
- Describe how the samples were chosen. Is there any potential bias in the sampling methods?
- List the descriptive statistics given in the article.
- What inferences does the article make from the descriptive statistics?
- Who conducted the studies? Is there any potential researcher bias? Explain your answer.