XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: YourName@YourISP.com   
      
   In article <1xxsbf7bzxt8w.1244utm9kehz9.dlg@40tude.net>, Brian M. Scott   
    wrote:   
   > On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:27:46 +1300, Your Name   
   >  wrote in   
   >  in   
   > rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.science,rec.arts.sf.misc:   
   >   
   > [...]   
   >   
   > > The problem is "surveys" are never accurate because they   
   > > simply ask far too few people [...]   
   >   
   > On the contrary, sample size is rarely a problem.  The   
   > problem is getting a simple random sample.   
      
   Few surveys are actually random. Idiot companies like Neilsen pick and   
   choose who can and can't be surveyed in the pretense of obtaining a   
   "statistically equivalent" ratio of people, which in itself means it's   
   never going to be random nor accurate.   
      
   Sample size is also a big problem. There's no point asking 50 people   
   out of a population of 50 million ... the results are useless, and the   
   way such results are reported is even worse. The survey is ONLY ever   
   going to be accurate for those 50 people. Anything else supposedly   
   "proven" is pure gueswork and manipulation, and often (especially in   
   marketing) statistically manipulated to "prove" wahtever the people   
   paying for it want it to "prove".   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)