Profiling?

Among the 20 first-class passengers on the flight described in Exercise, there were four businessmen from the Middle East. Two of them were the two passengers selected to be searched. They complained of profiling, but the airline claims that the selection was random. What do you think? Support your conclusion with a simulation.

Exercise :
Security. There are 20 first-class passengers and 120 coach passengers scheduled on a flight. In addition to the usual security screening, 10% of the passengers will be subjected to a more complete search.

a) Describe a sampling strategy to randomly select those to be searched.

b) Here is the first-class passenger list and a set of random digits. Select two passengers to be searched, carefully demonstrating your process.

65436  71127  04879  41516  20451  02227  94769  23593

c) Explain how you would use a random number table to select the coach passengers to be searched.