Are surveys based on.....?

Danica Timperman: Survey Studies should always be somewhat questioned. If you are going to trust a survey, make sure it is from a very good and reliable source. Many surveys hold bias(bias in scientific terms means a variable that changse the results).For example: If you post a survey on the web than you are only going to reach people who are interested in computer stuff. Your not going to reach a variety of people, and it will become a form of selection bias.Other surveys pick only college students who are willing to volunteer. This is another form of selection bias because college students are very different people from adults, seniors, or children.Only trust survey studies if it is from a reliable source. A reliable source(like the Mayo Clinic) is going to take into consideration all these variables and make sure it is not selection bias....Show more

Roni Kurz: Yes, but with caveats. They try to get something that represents the population of interest as closely ! as possible, but it's always tricky. Eg. An online survey will exclude people who don't use the internet. A survey conducted at a school will not sample dropouts. Plus, with any survey that is optional, certain people will choose not to participate, so you're probably systematically excluding people with certain mindsets. Second, even if your sample is truly random, there will be some variation from one sampling to the next. The smaller the sample size, the larger the variation one could expect.And, as has (sort of) been pointed out, you really have to look at what question was actually asked to know what the answer means....Show more

Nannie Kasee: If it were a truly random survey, that would be ok. As mentioned, though, it is almost impossible to get a truly random survey. Statisticians like to say that their results are MORE accurate than asking everyone. Does that make any sense to you?Lots of groups try to sway public opinion by saying things like, 1000 ad! ults were surveyed and 78% support eatingn apples. Then you l! ook at the survey and see that they surveyed people on the Apple Growers Society newsletter list....Show more

David Kuper: I blame the patriarchy