[Social-sciences-list] Anthropology

[Godfrey, Jonathan]

Hi there,

I’m a little concerned that you care about the mix of male to female participants when you don’t even have a random sampling scheme. Your ability to infer anything for a  population is limited anyway for so many reasons.

If you had suggested that your absolute number of males is less than what you want I would still be concerned but less so.

I know that many surveys are done using convenience sampling of some kind but I seriously hope your course staff are explaining how you can only make comments about your sample respondents and at most suggestive statements about the population the sample may have come from. In simple terms, your sample is biased and aside from a lack of gender balance, it will be very hard to know how it is biased.

Sorry if I sound a little harsh; poor sampling is a hobby horse of mine at present. I’m seeing too many postgraduate students who have not understood the limitations of their research findings because they do not have a random sample. They are not limited to social science students either by the way. Many students we see come to our statistical consulting service are looking at business-oriented research questions.

Jonathan


From: Social-sciences-list [mailto:social-sciences-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nora Goldberg via Social-sciences-list
Sent: Saturday, 14 March 2015 12:49 p.m.
To: social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Social-sciences-list] Anthropology

Hi Social Science Listers,

I wanted to let you know that tomorrow will be the last day to take my survey that I have been circulating for my Anthropology class.  For your convenience the link is below.  If you have any questions about the survey or the course that it is for please feel free to email me.  Roughly 3/4 of respondents so far have been female, so gentleman, please, help me out!  I want the data to paint the most balanced sketch possible.  And also feel free to share the survey link, either personally or via social media, with any friends and acquaintances who are blind or visually impaired.  The project has been very insightful, and I have really appreciated everyone's answers thus far.

The survey will be found here: http://goo.gl/UBHm7x

Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

Nora E. Goldberg
Urban Sustainability and Community Placemaking
Pennoni Honors College
Drexel University, 2016
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