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Problem-Solving and Data Analysis / Evaluating statistical claims: Observational studies and experiments Difficulty: Hard

For a baobab tree habitat in South Africa, a scientist randomly selected $50$ $50$ baobab trees that were $17$ $17$ years old and randomly assigned them to two groups. Each group was subjected to a different watering pattern for $2$ $2$ consecutive years to observe whether the watering pattern affects the trees’ growth rate. Based on the design of the study, what is the largest group to which these results can be applied?

All the $50$ baobab trees that were selected in this habitat

All the baobab trees that were $19$ years old in this habitat

All the baobab trees that were $17$ years old in South Africa

All the baobab trees that were $17$ years old in this habitat

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Explanation

Choice D is correct. When a study uses a randomly selected sample, the largest group to which the results of the study can be applied is the population from which the sample was selected. It's given that the scientist randomly selected the trees from the baobab trees in a certain habitat that were $17$ $17$ years old. Therefore, the largest group to which the results of this study can be applied is all the baobab trees that were $17$ $17$ years old in this habitat.

Choice A is incorrect. Since the sample was randomly selected from a population, the results can be applied to a larger group than the sample.

Choice B is incorrect. The sample was selected from a population of baobab trees that were $17$ $17$ years old, not $19$ $19$ years old.

Choice C is incorrect. The sample was selected from a certain tree habitat in South Africa, not from all the baobab trees that were $17$ $17$ years old in South Africa.