While I agree that online surveys are of dubious value, some of the
opposition sounds too moralistic or contentious for my taste. Here is
a parable.
The usual formulae of inferential statistics estimate the error made
by using a random sample instead of a census. If you did not take a
random sample, it is not clear what bearing the formulae might have.
It as if someone needed the volume of the Statue of Liberty, and, not
finding a formula for that shape, used instead the formula for the
volume of a sphere or the surface area of a pyramid, since those
formulae WERE in the book.
So I don't mind if you use an online sample, but you need to develop
the theory and formulae for inference from such samples, just as
others have developed the theory and formulae for cluster sampling,
stratified sampling, etc. That work has not been done yet. Using a
formula for something else won't do.
_
| | Robert W. Hayden
| | Work: Department of Mathematics
/ | Plymouth State College MSC#29
| | Plymouth, New Hampshire 03264 USA
| * | fax (603) 535-2943
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| ) Ashland, NH 03217
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