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Originally Posted by efoote868
There are means to get a statistically accurate picture of the opinion of a community, but voluntary online survey is not one of them.
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We agree. To close the loop on your earlier comments, then:
Quote:
Originally Posted by efoote868
Whose opinion matters more, the 10% that took the survey or the 90% that didn't take the survey?
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Of course the respondents' opinions matter more, at least in the context of providing FIRST some insight into the community's collective view of the topic at hand. The non-respondents had the opportunity to matter just as much, but chose not to use that opportunity. It's great fun to imbue those non-respondents with opinions and motivations for not sharing those opinions, but it's all fiction until measured.
Quote:
Originally Posted by efoote868
Because individuals without a strong opinion do not invest their time in voluntary surveys.
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Because there's no measurement to refute this, I am free to claim that the survey is biased in the opposite direction: perhaps some of those 90% were just so upset at the decision that they refused to fill out the survey. Certainly some number of those people exist-- who's to say how many?