Comments on: Are Survey Results Misleading? http://www.vanseodesign.com/analytics/are-survey-results-misleading/ Helping you build search engine friendly websites Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:29:40 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Steven Bradley http://www.vanseodesign.com/analytics/are-survey-results-misleading/comment-page-1/#comment-734 Steven Bradley Tue, 05 Jun 2007 01:11:46 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/are-survey-results-misleading/#comment-734 That's true that only a certain subset of people will take the time to fill out a survey and the results will be skewed. And it's true that being the focus of the survey can bias those filling it out. I think they can still be valuable, but they should be looked at cautiously and I think they can very easily lead to things like getting results you're hoping to get. I know there are ways to take into account some of the concerns, but still you may not want to put too much stock into what a survey tells you or at least understand they shouldn't be looked at with blind faith in the results. Oh and it's not a British thing. I'm pretty sure it's universal. That’s true that only a certain subset of people will take the time to fill out a survey and the results will be skewed. And it’s true that being the focus of the survey can bias those filling it out.

I think they can still be valuable, but they should be looked at cautiously and I think they can very easily lead to things like getting results you’re hoping to get. I know there are ways to take into account some of the concerns, but still you may not want to put too much stock into what a survey tells you or at least understand they shouldn’t be looked at with blind faith in the results.

Oh and it’s not a British thing. I’m pretty sure it’s universal.

]]> By: matt J http://www.vanseodesign.com/analytics/are-survey-results-misleading/comment-page-1/#comment-733 matt J Sun, 03 Jun 2007 21:39:33 +0000 http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/uncategorized/are-survey-results-misleading/#comment-733 I have often thought surveys are a bad way to collect data. For a start the only people who do them are people who don't mind taking surveys, So technically that would skew the results straight away. Also, If the person asking you to conduct the survey is the focus of the survey people might not be as likely to give honest answers. Like if i go out to eat and the waiter asks if i would mind filling out a small evaluation, I always put excelent for everything, because he is going to read it (i think thats a British thing), But i will still complain to whoever i am eating the meal with.. I have often thought surveys are a bad way to collect data. For a start the only people who do them are people who don’t mind taking surveys, So technically that would skew the results straight away.

Also, If the person asking you to conduct the survey is the focus of the survey people might not be as likely to give honest answers. Like if i go out to eat and the waiter asks if i would mind filling out a small evaluation, I always put excelent for everything, because he is going to read it (i think thats a British thing), But i will still complain to whoever i am eating the meal with..

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