Driver’s License: A Study

Chau Tran
Dr. Alana Unfried
STAT 330 – Sampling Design and Analysis
9 May 2019
Google Form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeyYDG6uP7XgT3EqtOYCvHqVKk0Pa98X3kN9
Odl0J-KPhBzrw/viewform
Google Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r5NjOHsSPKQyjgZ1qUpvcw5Smdsbjsqawdz8XTimsl
A/edit#gid=581602063
 My sampling project is called “Driver’s License: A Study.” For this sampling project, I

am trying to learn the average age of first-time drivers. The target population is those who

possess a driver's license in the United States. This topic is interesting because the legal driving

age is varied from state to state. Additionally, in recent years, there are many factors affecting

the decline of the average first-time driver’s license holders, including the hassle of having to put

in a certain amount of time and effort into fulfilling requirements, the availability of ridesharing

services such as Uber and Lyft, and financial problems. My sampling frame is 15,000 United

States residents. I will determine who is selected for the sample by narrowing the requirements

down to people who are above the legal age for driving in each state. Everyone will have an

equal chance of participating, minus those who do not have email accounts. One I take my

sample, I will send the survey via email. I will define my strata by genders because I believe they

affect the age of obtaining a driver's license. I will use proportional allocation to better represent

the population.

This project's objective is to gather and analyze data collected from a poll of simple

random samples regarding the correlation between age at the time of obtaining a driver's license

and other undermining factors such as education level and gender. Two links that are necessary

for this project are the Google Form and the Google Spreadsheet. The first question on my

survey asks the participant to identify with a gender. The second question asks for the current

age of the participant. The third question asks for the participant’s highest level of education,

following with occupation in the fourth question. The fifth question is a skip logical question,

which asks “do you have a driver’s license?” If the answer is no, the survey closes, and if it is

yes, the participant is directed to the next question, which asks “at what age did you obtain your

driver license?” Then, the participant is asked to rate the convenience level of the driver’s
license, in other words, the ability to drive, from a scale of 1 to 5, which 1 being not at all

convenient and 5 being extremely convenient. The last question asks for the recommended age

of obtaining a driver’s license, which concludes the survey.

A simple random sample will take a random portion of the entire population to represent

the entire data set, in this case, 15,000 people, where each person has an equal probability of

being chosen. A method of lottery or random draw will be appropriate to be applied to this type

of sample. There is no need to divide the population into sub-populations. A Simple random

sample is time-consuming and cost-ineffective. However, it is simple to conduct and is usually

preferred due to its lower rate of bias. A computer will be useful to select our random sample in

this study.

Stratified random sampling is another considerable option and it can be conducted by

separating samples based on education levels. I believe there is a difference between the rate of

driver's license holders among high school students and that of undergraduate students. This

application would minimize occurrences of high extremes affecting the mean and median in the

data. For example, giving high school students and undergraduate students a fair chance of

representing in the study would be helpful given driver's license holders in high school are fewer

than driver's license holders in college. The pit gall of this type of sample for my project would

be that it does not take into account cases of people obtaining driver's licenses regardless of their

education level due education not being a major determining factor.

Systematic sampling might work for this study due to its simplicity. Compared to simple

random sampling where we will have to generate random numbers to pick out our participants,

systematic sampling allows us to take advantage of a fixed, periodic interval which is determined

pre-sampling. However, this type of random sampling contains a number of disadvantages

including overrepresentation or underrepresentation of particular patterns and a great of data

manipulation. Therefore, I do not suggest systematic sampling to be incorporated into this study.

Cluster sampling is not an ideal method because there is no need to define subgroups

within the clusters. The study does not call for specific data. This type of random sampling

would be useful if the study was to choose certain regions in the United States to demonstrate the

findings, however, there is no need to do so. Compared to simple random sampling and

systematic sampling, cluster sampling is more cost-effective, however, the clusters may not be

truly homogeneous among each other.

Based on the comparison between the four types of random sample, I have concluded that

a simple random sample would be the best option. This type of random sample will create a

balanced subset from the bigger sample that carries the greatest potential for representing the

larger group as a whole that is free from any bias. The type of simple random sampling I am

going to conduct is an online survey. I am going to obtain a list of emails from a database and

give each one a number. Then, I will use the lottery system to pick out my random sample.

Everyone will have an equal chance of participating, minus those who do not have email

accounts. I expect there to be occurrences of nonresponse and cases of response bias where

participants submit false information the regarding level of education and age at obtaining a

driver’s license. Overall, the result should reflect the true population in the United States and the

study seems to have positive and reliable turn-outs.