Four statistics students are answering a homework problem that asks them to explain why a very large sample of college students shows a significantly higher percentage of students with pierced ears than does a sample of high school students. Which two answers are best?
Adam: Probably because of people like me-I didn't get my ear pierced until I started college. Once you have them pierced, you don't get them unpierced, so the number with pierced ears accumulates as students get older.
Brittany: I think it's because high school students are pretty much evenly divided between males and females, but there are more females in college and they tend to be the ones with pierced ears. Carlos: Maybe it's because the college students feel less inhibited, so they're the ones who are willing to admit that they have pierced ears. Dominique: Inhibitions have nothing to do with it unless you're talking about something more personal like a hidden tattoo. I think the difference in proportions with ears pierced just came about by chance. Anything's possible with random samples.