Surveys: For Fun or Profit?

Surveys can be fun! Newspapers, TV programs, radio shows and the like love to quote survey results because audiences find them entertaining. We enjoy learning other people’s personal habits or political views and seeing where we fit in.

But surveys are also a critical component of decision-making for companies looking to make a profit. They provide customer, prospect and employee information crucial for keeping businesses running. So, knowing whether you’re conducting a survey for fun or profit before you run the survey can greatly affect how you conduct your survey.

Most “fun” surveys do not need to follow accepted practices for successful surveys, and the time and expense to create an accurate survey is not warranted. In fact, the entertainment factor is often higher for a biased survey.

For example, years ago advice columnist Dear Abby ran a poll asking parents, “If you had it to do all over again, would you have children?” She received more than 10,000 responses, and 75% of the respondents said they would not have children if they could start over. The ensuing uproar (how could parents say such a thing?!) led to the commission of a more “scientific” survey using accepted practices. The results of that study showed that 95% of parents would have children if they had it to do over again.

Political surveys, on the other hand, tend to want to be more accurate, because their entertainment value is closely tied to the accuracy of the surveys. The Gallup organization has made a good business out of performing rigorous survey methods in their work.

Compare two recent excerpts from USA TODAY:

“According to the latest AP-Ipsos national poll: Among Republicans surveyed, 23% ‘can’t or won’t say which candidate they would back,’ from their party’s contenders, ‘a jump from the 14% who took a pass in June.’ Rudy Giuliani leads the list of those who are chosen, with 21% support.”

“The AP-Ipsos results aren’t backed up by the latest numbers from the Gallup Poll. Today, Gallup’s Lydia Saad reports that 10% of Republicans responded with ‘none’ or ‘no opinion’ when Gallup asked which of the GOP candidates they support. In Gallup’s latest survey, Giuliani leads among Republicans with 30%.”

So, which poll is correct? There is no way to truly know unless we look at the methods used. As we learned in the Dear Abby example, the methods affect the results!

So, are your surveys for fun or profit? Businesses, we hope, strive for accuracy, but sometimes using accepted practices isn’t worth the time and money involved. Decide what purpose your survey will serve, and then you’ll know if you should strictly follow accepted practices. Next time I’ll cover some of these basic accepted practices for surveys that everyone should know.

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