Friday, 3 July 2020

Survey Design Is Important - Even for chip shop sauces

This is a fun survey - but let me be clear, it is BUNK, BOGUS and BAD.



Here's two of the main problems.

1) Where's the "no sauce" option?
Either there wasn't one in the survey, or it's not reported. Either they've forced a potentially false choice, or we don't have the whole story.
I grew up in the South East, and your options for wet stuff on chips are usually as follows: Vinegar, maybe Ketchup. Or Tartare Sauce - but that's not even an option in this.
In my experience, no southerner has ever considered putting curry on their chips. Rightly, it's just not a thing.

2) What's the threshold?
Look at Northern Ireland. 10 responses, but 5 results are reported. So these "results" are mostly the opinion of 1 or 2 people. Is that valid?
Compare that with the North West - my adopted home - where they've contrived countless ways to contaminate chips with gloopy and/or wet crap. 102 responses. That's more like it. We can have confidence that this represents the wrong-headed decisions of my neighbours.

Surveys must be designed well and analysed well. People think they're easy, because they see them every day. I see them every day too, and there's usually at least one major error that compromises them. Get an expert involved.

Right, now I need to plan my next trip to Edinburgh to get a pudding supper, salt 'n' sauce and a can of Irn Bru...

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