Question

Google recently commissioned a poll about computer science teaching in schools. They found that three-quarters of schools teaching grades 7-12 do not have computer science classes that teach coding. Their margin of error for estimating the proportion of schools that teach coding was 0.03. What does that margin of error represent?

Answer 1

Answer:

The margin of error expresses the maximum expected difference between the true proportion of schools that teach coding and the poll result.

Explanation:

The margin of error should be qualified by a confidence level. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that the poll's results are "true" figures.

In Google's poll, if the margin of error for estimating the proportion of schools that teach coding is 0.03, then we should expect proportion of schools that teach coding is between 0.03 above and below the poll result.

Thus, since poll result is $\frac{3}{4}$ = 0.75, proportion of schools that teach coding is between 0.72 and 0.78 according to this research.