From the China Daily:
More than 85% of the Chinese public are satisfied with government measures to prevent the spread of the A/H1N1 flu, according to a survey. The online survey of 15002 people by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily found 62% of the public believe more people will cultivate hygienic habits in light of the flu virus, while 41% believe the public’s sense of responsibility will improve.
Online surveys are rarely accurate because the respondents are not randomly picked from a population. Instead, certain conditions must exists in order for the people participating in the online survey to cast their vote.
The survey that China Youth Daily conducted needed these requirements from the respondents:
- Must have computer
- Must have Internet access
- Must know about the QTick website
- Must be a registered member in order to vote
When these conditions are met, he/she is able to vote on issue presented by the China Youth Daily.
How the survey data by the China Youth Daily is unreliable:
According to CIA’s 2008 figures, there are 253 million Internet users in China, that’s only about 19% of the entire Chinese population. Moreover, the QTick website has a Google PageRank of 3, which is relatively low and is an indication of its relatively low “importance.”
Only registered members of QTick are elegible to participate in the survey and not all visitors to QTick register as a member. Moreover, registration requires users to provide their real name, this will deter more users from registering; this also lowers the accuracy of the survey, which should be conducted anonymously, where the participant is not affraid to provide what they really think.
Although the sample size is quite large (15002) but the survey takers are not randomly picked from the overall population. People to take this survey actively seeked out this survey (because they need to know the address of the survey site, register as a member, and provide their real name). The result, therefore, can hardly represent the Chinese population, which is what China Daily is trying to claim.
A more accurate statement concerning this survey would be:
“85% of Chinese Internet users who regularly visite QTick and are registered members are satisfied with government measurs to prevent the spread of the A/H1N1 flu.”
I don’t read that newspaper anyway. I subscribed to Financial Times’ blog feeds and read them occasionally.
I do wish there were more people like you around on the interwebs. Not many people are careful with their words, including myself sometimes. I have written things I would love to take back but now its not possible.
Нормально, можно cделать маленький сборник.
One of my sisters got infected with H1N1 or more commonly known as Swine Flu. Fortunately, she did not have very high fever and she was able to recover fast .
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Good to hear she recovered fast. Where do you guys live?
i think that in asian countries the Swine Flu did not spread rapidly compared to those countries that are located in colder climates. we should still be very thankful that the swine flu did not cause massive infections.
2 of my cousins in mexico got infected with the swine flu virus. thank God, they recovered well. it is a great news that the pandemic on swine flu is gone now.