Bogus polls treated as news
In the past, newspapers would usually at least refer to their bogus polls of convenience samples as “unscientific”. Now the warning word simply seems to be “online”. The Herald’s headline “Mother’s Day off the cards for most: poll” is followed by the lead “Almost half of New Zealanders won’t be celebrating Mother’s Day today, according to a New Zealand Herald online reader poll”.
If the poll were meaningful, it would also matter that the question is badly designed: there are four answers, of which you have to pick exactly one to vote. The options are a card, a meal, breakfast in bed, or nothing. If you’re taking Mum skydiving, or sending flowers, or buying her chocolate, or a new chainsaw, how are you supposed to respond?
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »