In an on-line press release, ABCNews.com reported that ". . . 73 percent of Americans. . . favor a law that would require every gun sold in the United States to be test-fired first, so law enforcement would have its fingerprint in case it were ever used in a crime."
a. Do you think that the statement in the press release is inferential or descriptive? Can you be sure?
b. Actually, ABCNews.com conducted a telephone survey of a random national sample of 1032 adults and determined that 73% of them favored a law that would require every gun sold in the United States to be test-fired first, so law enforcement would have its fingerprint in case it were ever used in a crime. How would you rephrase the statement in the press release to make clear that it is a descriptive statement? An inferential statement?