Again, we come back to looking at goals. The media outlet in question is not making decisions based on the survey s outcome, instead using it as a device to further engage the audience and increase ratings or the number of copies sold. In that case, management may be uninterested as to whether the responses bear any semblance of a greater reality. A business looking for marketing information would find such an approach reckless. Remember that all surveys suffer from this to one degree or another .
People refuse to answer surveys over the phone or throw away questionnaires received in the mail.
If you want to make decisions based on results, make surveys as random as possible. It s better to have self-selection problems where people refuse to answer, than it is to have situations where respondents choose themselves. Other issues can sneak in when you are trying to study subgroups. You may be tempted to choose the minimum number of people needed for each subgroup, however, if you are not careful, the subgroups may appear in non-representative numbers in the overall group. Though you may be able to draw some conclusions for each division, results of the group as a whole may be flawed.