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[Fwd: Contributors Wanted]re: greg and topic survey



Russ Church

On Wed, 3 Jul 1996 dklein@dailynews.net wrote:

> greg simerly wrote:
> 
> >>>>>>
> >first, thanks to jamie and greg for their assistance in retrieving pam's 
> >topic process survey.  I am disturbed that this document is used so 
> >frequently as an appeal for inclusion of non-policy resolutions on the 
> >ballot.  first, there are numerous programs that for whatever reason did not 
> >respond to the survey.  arizona state, kansas state, the university of 
> >central oklahoma, the university of saint louis-missouri, western washington 
> >and macalaster college are just a few of the programs missing from the 
> >survey results. 
> 
> Those generally have a voice on the L, which has been an important point
> made previously.  With the survey AND the L, at least many, if not most, of
> CEDA voices are heard.  
> >>>>>>
> 
> this is of course the assumption.  for the sake of argument, lets say that 
> the same number of member schools are represented on the l discussion that 
> are not included in the survey responders, which doubles the survey from 
> about 56 of 212 to 102 of 212 schools.  problem is that measures of 
> statistical reliability require minimally 60 to 70 percent of the data base 
> responding, not the less than half of the ceda members that the most 
> optimistic combination of l and survey respondents.  and in any case, the 
> topic process survey received response from only 1/4 of the ceda member 
> schools, which is sufficient in itself to seriously doubt the reliability of 
> the results.
> 
> >>>>>>
>  significant hesitancy exists on my part to initiate a full 
> >discussion of the methodological problems with this type of survey, but 
> >significant verifiability problems seem apparent.  what percentage of the 
> >survey recipients answered the survey?  
> 
> Looks like 56 or so responded, out of 212 members this past year, so about a
> quarter. That's why the voices on the L are so important to the process.  By
> the way, MANY, if not most, organizational votes (topic ballots, referenda,
> officers, etc.) are decided by as few as a quarter of the membership.  The
> survey response rate is NOT an exception.  
> >>>>>>
> 
> that other survey types are also flawed fails to justify the use of this 
> topic survey.  
> 
> >>>>>>
> how were the answers listed on the 
> >survey;  were they uniform or was there randomization of the answer offers?  
> >how were the questions phrased?  is the survey reproducible?  independent of 
> >these issues, this survey at best provides simply a snapshot of the baseline 
> >yes or no preference for policy or non-policy resolutions.  even conceding 
> >that some persons and programs desire a particular topic fails to justify 
> >normatively that inclusion on the ballot.
> 
> Case pimps, but no disad.  :)
> >>>>>>
> 
> doesn't answer the questions posed.  extend please.
> david
> 
>
References:
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