Apr 25
This post is part of a series that considers methodological and reporting flaws that frequently arise in surveys, and uses Travelandleisure.com’s “America’s Favorites Cities” (AFC) survey as its primary point of discussion. Links to other posts in this series are featured on the author’s page. Reports will frequently boast a survey’s sample size, as if …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/04/a-massive-sample-size-should-invite-a-critical-eye-not-instill-confidence/
Apr 06
With the Republican primary wrapping up and more attention placed on the national election, people are focusing on poll results. Real Clear Politics (RCP), a well-known website that provides a plethora of poll results, just updated its summary of multiple polls’ results related to the general election: Obama vs. Romney. See summary table below. Most …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/04/who-is-being-polled-matters/
Mar 13
Los Angelenos think highly of their hamburgers. Not so much their pizza. According to resident responses, L.A. hamburgers rank fifth best of 35 U.S. cities based on a report by Travelandleisure.com. But L.A.’s pizza ranks 28th, seven spots from dead last. It is no surprise that L.A. residents are less proud of their pizza than …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/l-a-s-pizza-is-worse-than-anchorages-and-why-your-experts-survey-may-be-unreliable/
Mar 12
Undoubtedly, one of the decisive issues in the upcoming November 2012 presidential election will be about taxes: Should some pay higher taxes than others? If yes, who, why, and how much more? Until recently, practically every national poll asked whether tax rates should be increased, decreased, or kept the same. For example, one of the …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/03/finally-a-poll-asks-the-question-we-really-care-about/
Feb 01
Fortune has released its current list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For”, with Google topping the list for the third time in its history. The highly sought after honor considers criteria such as pay, perks, culture, and job growth. The full list can be found here, but the top twenty companies are: Google Boston …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/02/best-places-to-work/
Jan 04
Last week, USA Today/Gallup published the results of its December 15 – 18, 2011 public opinion poll. At the end of every year since 1948, with the exception of 1967 and 1976, Gallup has asked the following (among other) questions: What man that you have heard or read about, living today in any part of the world, do …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/01/misleading-survey-results-from-one-of-the-top-notch-polling-agencies/
Dec 30
With the holidays upon us, it is interesting to note that many Americans do not take all their annual vacation. The following statistics were reported in various conducted: The average American worker earns 14 days of vacation but will only take 12 of them (Expedia survey) The average American employee leaves 6.2 days of paid …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/americans-unused-vacation-time-can-hurt-both-employees-and-employers/
Jun 13
The Associated Press (AP) does its readers a disservice by suggesting that its most recent May 2011 survey results are indicative of future election outcomes. AP makes significantly incorrect claims about likely election results because its poll (i) starts with a more Democrat-friendly profile, and (ii) is not based on likely voters. The AP poll starts with …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/06/beware-of-poll-results/
Mar 17
Gallup recently announced the results of a survey that is interesting not so much for the results but the implied thinking about how people choose among a large list of possibilities with limited information. Specifically the survey dealt with the Republican candidates for president in 2012, of which there are currently none. By comparison the …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/judging-a-horse-race-without-any-horses/
Mar 14
Opinion polls (surveys) are used extensively to understand almost everything that cannot be looked up as a scientific fact. But, poll results are only as good as the sampling technique, survey instrument, and interpretation process that underlie the reported conclusions. Lots of things can and do go wrong in this regard. This article provides the …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/a-primer-on-creating-using-surveys/
