首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
A trade group for liquor retailers put out a press release with an alarming headline; "Millions of Kids Buy Internet Alcohol, La
A trade group for liquor retailers put out a press release with an alarming headline; "Millions of Kids Buy Internet Alcohol, La
admin
2011-04-21
49
问题
A trade group for liquor retailers put out a press release with an alarming headline; "Millions of Kids Buy Internet Alcohol, Landmark Survey Reveals. "
The announcement, from the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America received wide media attention. On NBC’s Today Show, Lea Thompson said, "According to a new online survey, one in 10 teenagers have an underage friend who has ordered beer, wine or liquor over the internet. More than a third think they can easily do it and nearly half think they won’t get caught. " Several newspapers mentioned the study, including USA Today and the Record of New Jersey. The news even made Australia’s Gold Coast Bulletin.
Are millions of kids really buying booze online? To arrive at that jarring headline, the group used some questionable logic to pump up results from a survey that was already tilted in favor of finding a large number of online buyer.
For starters, consider the source. The trade group that commissioned the survey has long fought efforts to expand online sales of alcohol; its members are local distributors who compete with online liquor sellers. Some of the news coverage pointed out that conflict of interest, though reports didn’t delve more deeply into how the numbers were computed.
The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America hired Teenage Research Unlimited, a research company, to design the study. Teenage Research, in turn, hired San Diego polling firm Luth Research to put the questions to 1,001 people between the ages of 14 and 20 in an online survey. Luth gets people to participate in its surveys in part by advertising them online and offering small cash awards—typically less than $ 5 for short surveys.
People who agree to participate in online surveys are, by definition, internet users, something that not all teens are. (Also, people who actually take the time to complete such surveys may be more likely to be active, or heavy internet users. ) It’s safe to say that kids who use the internet regularly are more likely to shop online than those who don’t. Teenage Research Unlimited told me it weighted the survey results to adjust for age, sex, ethnicity and geography of respondents, but had no way to adjust for degree of internet usage.
Regardless, the survey found that, after weighting, just 2. 1 points of the 1,001 respondents bought alcohol online—compared, with 56 points who had consumed alcohol. Making the questionable assumption that their sample was representative of all Americans aged 14 to 20 with access to the internet—and not just those with the time and inclination to participate in online surveys—the researchers concluded that 551,000 were buying alcohol online.
But that falls far short of the reported "millions of kids". To justify that headline, the wholesalers’ group focused on another part of the survey that asked respondents if they knew a teen who had purchased alcohol online. Some 12 points said they did. Of course, it’s ridiculous to extrapolate from a state like that—one buyer could be known by many people, and it’s impossible to measure overlap. Consider a high school of 1,000 students, with 20 who have bought booze on line and 100 who know about the purchases. If 100 of the school’s students are surveyed at random, you’d expect to find two who have bought and 10 who know someone who has—but that still represents only two buyers, not 10. (Not to mention the fact that thinking you know someone who has ordered beer online is quite different from ordering a six pack yourself. )
Karen Gravois Elliott, a spokeswoman for the wholesalers’ group, told me, "The numbers are real," but referred questions about methodology to Teenage Research. When I asked her about the potential problems of conducting the survey online, she said the medium was a strength of the survey: "We specifically wanted to look at the teenage online population. "
Nahme Chokeir, a vice president of client service for San Diego-based Luth Research Inc. , told me that some of his online panel comes from word of mouth, which wouldn’t necessarily skew toward heavy internet users. He added that some clients design surveys to screen respondents by online usage, though Teenage Research didn’t.
I asked Michael Wood, a vice president at Teenage Research who worked on the survey, whether one could say, as the liquor trade group did, that millions of teenagers had bought alcohol online. "You can’t," he replied, adding, "This is their press release. "
Which of the following is the message that this passage is trying to convey?
选项
A、The severe social consequences of kids buying alcohol online.
B、The hidden drawback of the American educational system.
C、The influence of wide coverage of news media.
D、The problems in statistic methodology in social survey.
答案
D
解析
综合题。综观全文,本文围绕一家酒类零售商商会发布的一则新闻标题展开分析,指出该社会调查在统计方法上所存在的问题。因此D项正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/GpBO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Delegatesareaskedtocheckoutby10:30a.m.Thedelegatesshouldleavetheirrooms______.
TOURA-110:MORNINGTIJUANATOUR8:30amTO12:30pmADULT:$29CHILD:$15
Dysonvacuumcleanersarenotlikeothercleaners.PeopledonotcommunicatebymemoatDyson.
Inaperfectlyfreeandopenmarketeconomy,thetypeofemployer—governmentorprivate—shouldhavelittleornoimpactonthe
Theyhadplannedtogooutingthisweekend,buttheyfinallyhadto_____itbecauseoftherainyweather.
FurthereducationisofficiallyAdescribedasthepost-secondarystageofeducation,Bcomprisedallvocationalandconvocational
Accordingtotheinstructor,studentswhoareabsentfrom,lecturesmorethanthreetimeswillbe______intheendofthesemes
Inthesummerof999,LeifEriksonvoyagedtoNorwayandspentthefollowingwinterwithKingOlafTryggvason.Substantiallythe
Somecorpsesweresobadlydismemberedthattheycouldn’tbeidentifiedasmenorwomen.
Thepresidentexplainedthatthepurposeoftaxationwasto____governmentspending.
随机试题
型式评价结束后,经审查合格的,由________向申请单位颁发型式批准证书。
一单摆系统,球质量为m,摆长为l,球作角振幅为θ的简谐振动,振动表达式θ=θ0cos(wt+φ),求此单摆在任意时刻的动能为()
螺内酯(安体舒通)试验ACTH试验
男性,42岁,午饭后上腹剧痛4小时伴呕吐3次就诊。体温38.6℃,白细胞15×109/L。上腹部肌紧张及压痛,移动性浊音(+),血淀粉酶300U/L。初步诊断:急性胰腺炎。病人因剧烈腹痛住院,应立即采取下列哪项措施
1987年,联合国环境与发展委员会发表了(),全面准确地为可持续发展下定义。
球罐的焊前预热主要目的是( )。
下列树种中,适合作为西北地区防风沙树种的有__________个。①胡杨;②水杉;③榕树;④银杏
关于国画,以下说法不正确的是()。
国际收支失衡的原因及国际收支失衡的调节政策。
“数学管理”数据库中有学生表、课程表和选课表,为了有效地反映这三张表中数据之间的联系,在创建数据库时应设置
最新回复
(
0
)