Problem:
• The human resources (HR) manager for Gorman Industries, LLC wants to give a short survey to a sample of recent hires (defined as people who have been with the company for less than one year). This sample will include several thousand individuals. The HR manager wants to be able to develop a confidence interval for the proportion of new hires that are happy with the company.
To get the sample, he has two plans:
• Plan 1: Stand at the door as people are entering and leaving a quarterly employee communications meeting. Whenever he sees someone with a red badge, which indicates less than one year with the company, he will stop that person and give him or her a packet with the survey and instructions.
• Plan 2: E-mail new employees with the packet attached and request they complete it and e-mail it back within three days.
Which planned approach would you use and why? Base your decision on statistical fact, potential cost, and HR management time to evaluate the results. You can assume that a reasonable estimate for the proportion of new hires that are happy with the company is .8.