Category Archives: Survey Research

Asking Settings Make Answers Unreliable

Posted on December 8, 2020 by George Beam

Updated February 21, 2022 Settings in which questions are asked and answers given make answers unreliable; that is, answers that may, or may not, be accurate. This happens because components in the two types of settings (societal and immediate, discussed … Continue reading →

Posted in Survey Research | Tagged answers unreliable, limitations of survey research, settings, survey research, the problem with survey research, weaknesses of survey research | 1 Comment

Unrepresentative Samples and Results: Fatal Flaws in Survey Research

Posted on December 7, 2020 by George Beam

Updated February 17, 2022 Unrepresentative samples and, therefore, unrepresentative results, are fatal flaws in survey research. With rare exception, all survey research efforts (polls, surveys, interviews, et al.) are unrepresentative, thereby producing unreliable answers; that is, answers that may, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Survey Research | Tagged limitations of survey research, the problem with survey research, unrepresentative results, unrepresentative sample, weaknesses of survey research | Leave a comment

Asking Instruments Make Answers Unreliable

Posted on December 6, 2020 by George Beam

Updated February 21,2022 Asking instruments (polls, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and all other types of asking) produce unreliable answers; that is, answers that may, or may not, be accurate. The only way to know if answers are accurate is to … Continue reading →

Posted in Survey Research | Tagged answers unreliable, nonresponse, survey research instruments, the problem with survey research, unrepresentative results | 1 Comment

Nonresponse A Fatal Flaw in Survey Research

Posted on December 6, 2020 by George Beam

Updated February 21, 2022 Nonresponse–that is, not answering when asked—is a fatal flaw in survey research. Regardless of the type of asking instrument (poll, survey, self-administered questionnaire, computer assisted telephone interview, et al.) and regardless of whether the asking effort … Continue reading →

Posted in Survey Research | Tagged limitations of survey research, nonresponse, survey research, the problem with survey research, weaknesses of survey research | 1 Comment

9+ Ways Respondents Make Answers Unreliable

Posted on December 4, 2020 by George Beam

Respondents make answers unreliable—that is, answers that may, or may not, correspond to what’s really going on—because they1. sometimes lie,2. often do not have relevant and/or correct information,3. and because their values and norms affect answers, as do their4. interests … Continue reading →

Posted in Survey Research | Tagged limitations of survey research, respondents, survey research, the problem with survey research, weaknesses of survey research | 5 Comments

2020 Election Polls, Like All Polls, Not Representative

Posted on November 18, 2020 by George Beam

Updated February 21, 2022 It has been pointed out by many—including Finn McHugh in “Why the polls keep getting it wrong” and Mary Kay Ling and Doree Lewak, “Why election polls were so wrong again in 2020,”—that the 2020 election … Continue reading →

Posted in Survey Research | Tagged 2020 election, the problem with survey research, unrepresentative results, unrepresentative sample | 1 Comment

Pollsters Wrong Again In 2020 Blame Nonresponse

Posted on November 13, 2020 by George Beam

Updated February 21,2022 Pollsters, wrong in 2020, as in 2016, seek the source of their ongoing errors. Some, for instance, Jon Cohen, chief research officer at SurveyMonkey, blame nonresponse. As he puts it in an Axios post: `“The major problem, … Continue reading →

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Survey Research, Correlation, Causality, And Sex

Posted on September 1, 2018 by George Beam

Updated February 21, 2022 Correlation is not causality. Survey research can establish correlation (or,what’s sometimes called a dependent relationship), but not causality. However, that does not stop askers and those who rely on answers to questions from saying that … Continue reading →

Posted in Survey Research | Tagged causality, correlation, limitations of survey research, marijuana use, survey research, the problem with survey research, weaknesses of survey research | Leave a comment

Survey Researchers Foster Confusion When They Ask About Race And Ethnicity

Posted on May 16, 2018 by George Beam

Updated February 21, 2022 Survey researchers foster confusion when they ask about race and ethnicity–and they acknowledge they’re doing so!–and, because they’re addicted to asking, they continue to ask about race and ethnicity. As stated in the Newsletter below, which … Continue reading →

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Efforts To Make Answers Reliable Fail

Posted on January 26, 2018 by George Beam

Updated February 10, 2023 Survey researchers/askers are always trying to make their always-unreliable answers reliable and always fail to do so. Answers are always unreliable because answers are always affected/skewed by questions (e.g., wording), askers (e.g., gender affects answers), respondents … Continue reading →

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