A sociologist is studying the social media habits of high school students in a school district. The sociologist wants to estimat

Question

3 days ago

7

A sociologist is studying the social media habits of high school students in a school district. The sociologist wants to estimat

e the average total number of minutes spent on social media per day in the population. A random sample of 50 high school students was selected, and they were asked, “How many minutes per day, on average, do you spend visiting social media sites?"
Which of the following is the most appropriate inference procedure for the sociologist to use?

A one-sample z-interval for a population proportion

A

A one-sample t-interval for a population mean

B

A matched-pairs t -interval for a mean difference

C

A two-sample z-interval for a difference between proportions

D

A two-sample t-interval for a difference between means

Mathematics

1 answer:

zzz [4K] · Answer 1 · 2026-03-02T01:46:13+03:00

Answer:

A one-sample t-interval for estimating a population mean

Step-by-step explanation:

Given the inquiry "On average, how many minutes each day do you spend on social media sites?", the response will be numeric (in hours, whole numbers, or decimals).

This is not a proportion, so the suggestion of "A one-sample t-interval for a population mean" is not applicable.

The study does not specify another metric for paired comparisons, making a matched-pairs test irrelevant. Hence, the option "A matched-pairs t-interval for a mean difference" is also excluded.

Since there are no two means being examined, the options for "difference between means" are not applicable either. Therefore, options like "A two-sample z-interval for a difference between proportions" and "A two-sample t-interval for a difference between means" are dismissed.

The correct approach should be a one-sample t-interval for a population mean, as there is only a single sample and a defined population mean, with the population standard deviation remaining unknown.