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My cousin swore I should ignore the sample size on that influencer's poll
He said 500 people was plenty for a national survey about vaccine side effects, but I checked the demographics and 90% were from one county in Ohio. Has anyone else caught big news outlets running with tiny, lopsided samples like it means something?
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baker.christopher2mo ago
That 90% from one Ohio county thing is a huge red flag (like, that county alone doesn't even come close to representing the whole US). I saw a local news station run a poll on city budget priorities, but they only grabbed responses from people who clicked an ad on their website. Turned out 80% of the 200 replies were from one zip code full of retired folks who hate new bike lanes, and the station ran with the headline "City Residents Reject Bike Lanes." It's basically junk data dressed up with a confident headline.
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henryt182mo ago
Hmm I mean that's a fair point about the bike lane poll being skewed but idk if every 90% stat is automatically junk. Sometimes a really high number can come from a small area if that area is super passionate about something specific. Like maybe that Ohio county has a local issue that's driving that result, not necessarily bad polling. I wouldn't dismiss it outright just because it's from one county. Context matters a lot I guess.
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the_alice2mo ago
Henry, I mean, is a bike lane poll really that deep?
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