>Hi,
>for my dissertation project I am conducting a
>study that can be accessed online. If you have a
>few minutes, please take part at
>
>http://survey06.nonfx.net
You should realize that online surveys like this are completely useless
statistically, and even constructing and administering a questionnaire
in person is not something you just make up and do.
I would hope anyone who is working on an advanced degree in the
sciences would be required to acquire some expertise in statistics and
sampling methods. At the very least, you should consult a statistician
before you waste your time and resources on doing it all wrong.
University statistics departments often have a consulting service
available to graduate students and others. If you want a dissertation
that's publishable rather than laughable, you should discuss methods
with your advisor and a statistician.
Since it isn't obvious to you why an online survey like this is
useless, I'll point out that (1) you have a strong selection bias --
most people won't take your survey, and those who do are a
self-selected very small minority, extremely unlikely to be a
representative sample of anything you're looking for and (2) people can
answer anything they please, with no motivation to be truthful or
accurate -- people often answer these thing just to have fun claiming
the bizarre and absurd.
Of course, *you* may be the troll or weirdo or person who likes to fool
people, or you may be collecting addresses for spammers.
ggroups@nonfx.net - 17 Mar 2006 15:29 GMT
Many thanks for your comment.
Yes, there may be sampling problem. But - to a certain degree - it
depends on your research question if a selection bias effects your
results.
If you like, I send you the results of this survey. Just email me.
FF