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It’s not just that online polls do not provide valid data, it’s that they provide misleading data.
by Nbox9 5y ago
It’s not just that online polls do not provide valid data, it’s that they provide misleading data.
- roenxi 5y agoPotato potato, as they say. It wouldn't be surprising if there was no link at all between reality and the poll. Consider as a worse case; there is a political question with a fairly clear reality ("the legislators should legislate the value of exp(1) to be 2.5 to make life easier"). The silent majority ignores the silly poll, and the lunatics who believe this is a good idea all put in a vote because they want to promote their mad cause. The poll could therefore be biased to be exactly wrong. May as well call it invalid data and save the time thinking about it.
- dredmorbius 5y agoOpinion polls, properly constructed and conducted, measure opinion. They do not measure any truth other than the truth of a specific opinon. Polling for the value of e is rather like polling for the piloting of a jetliner. You could certainly do it. It would end rather badly in virtually all instances.
- roenxi 5y agoThe point is the poll wouldn't be picking up the opinion of the crowd. It would be picking up the least representative sample of people; those who have an incentive for the poll to mis-represent popular opinion. I only picked exp() as an example because it can't start a political argument.
- dredmorbius 5y agoI think we're largely in agreement, if discussing different elements of the same question.
- pessimizer 5y agoHN is very representative of the type of technologists that frequent HN.
- dredmorbius 5y agoIt's the kind of thing that's very popular among those who like that sort of thing.
- praptak 5y agoThen we have to accept we are being misled about how many people did not previously know about HN polls.
- scoopertrooper 5y agoBut by who? Who is the puppet master?
- dredmorbius 5y agoDeception and bias can emerge without intent or control. Which again is a major point behind statistical data gathering methods and practices. Invalid methods -> invalid results. Regardless of intent. (Though of course, those intent on deceiving can construct biased samples to drive their agenda.)
- colejohnson66 5y ago@dang? /s
- iso1210 5y agoI'm just annoyed there's no CowboyNeal option
- KineticLensman 5y agoThis was also my immediate reaction, especially given the non-serious 'dang is a lizard' option.
- iso1210 5y agoWe're getting old. Most people here wouldn't recognise it.
- dredmorbius 5y ago"dang is a lizard" is the new Cowboy Neal.
- 5y ago
- ekianjo 5y agoevery data is misleading when you dont know how to interpret it
- dredmorbius 5y agoCorollary: all data are relational.
- lostlogin 5y agoAre you suggest that my vote of ‘yes, dang is a lizard’, ‘yes’ and ‘no’ is misleading?
- dredmorbius 5y agoThis depends entirely on the lizards.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoMisleading implies intent, no?