Drill 10 ·
AP Business with Personal Finance: Market Research (Drill 10) is a practice drill. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.
This drill covers market research, survey design, and bias detection; it uses an invented company and original figures.
Lantern Tabletop, a small board-game studio, wants to find out whether people would buy a new cooperative mystery game before it commits to production. It runs a short survey asking 300 people, "How likely are you to buy a new cooperative mystery game in the next year?" The results are below. The studio is also reviewing the wording of its survey questions to make sure the data it gathers is not slanted.
Survey results (300 respondents)
| Response | Count | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Very likely | 120 | 40% |
| Somewhat likely | 90 | 30% |
| Unlikely | 60 | 20% |
| Not sure | 30 | 10% |
Question 1. Which response did the largest number of people choose?
Explanation: Very likely is correct (C): 120 people chose it, more than Somewhat likely (90), Unlikely (60), or Not sure (30). It is both the largest count and the largest share of the sample.
Question 2. The 300 people who answered Lantern Tabletop's survey are best described as its what?
Explanation: Sample is the right term (A): in market research, a sample is the group of respondents drawn from a larger population to gather data. A profit margin (B) is a profitability measure, a supply chain (C) is how a product is produced and delivered, and a fixed cost (D) is an expense that does not vary with output; none describes survey respondents.
Question 3. What percentage of respondents said they were either "Very likely" or "Somewhat likely" to buy?
Explanation: The answer is 70% (D): 120 + 90 = 210 of 300 respondents, and 210 / 300 = 70%. 40% (A) counts only "Very likely," 30% (B) counts only "Somewhat likely," and 100% (C) would be all respondents.
Question 4. Lantern Tabletop wants to revise this draft survey question: "Wouldn't you agree that our exciting new mystery game is worth buying?" What is the main problem with the draft?
Explanation: B is correct: the draft's wording ("Wouldn't you agree... exciting... worth buying") signals the answer the company wants and pressures respondents to agree, so the responses would reflect the question's slant rather than honest opinion. That is a leading question. A is wrong because the problem is bias, not length. C is wrong because the question is about agreement, not price. D is wrong because anyone can answer it; the flaw is the loaded phrasing, not the respondent pool.
Question 5. Lantern Tabletop wants the survey question that gathers the least biased, most useful data from potential customers. Which wording is best?
Explanation: D is the best wording: it is neutral, specific, and lets respondents answer honestly across a range, which is why it is the question Lantern Tabletop actually used to get usable data. A and C are leading questions ("Wouldn't you agree," "Don't you think") that steer respondents toward agreement. B embeds the loaded phrase "high-quality... like ours," which flatters the product and biases the answer. Choosing neutral, audience-appropriate wording is how a firm gathers data it can trust.