A recent online poll posed the question "Should female...

$A$ recent online poll posed the question "Should female athletes be paid the same as men for the work they do?" In all, 13,147 $(44 \%)$ said "Yes," $15,182(50 \%)$ said "No," and the remaining 1448 said "Don't know." In spite of the large sample size for this survey, we can't trust the result. Why not?

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Key Concepts

Sampling Bias

Sampling bias occurs when the method used to gather a sample does not accurately represent the overall population. In surveys, if certain groups are overrepresented or underrepresented, the results can reflect the opinions of only a subset of the population rather than providing a balanced view.

Self-Selection Bias

Self-selection bias is present when participation in a survey or poll is voluntary, meaning that individuals with strong opinions or specific interests are more likely to respond. This leads to a non-random sample where the respondents do not accurately mirror the broader demographic, thereby skewing the results.

Representativeness

Representativeness refers to the degree to which a sample mirrors the characteristics of the entire population. When a survey does not use methods to ensure a representative sample, such as random sampling, the findings may not be valid for making generalizations about the larger group.

External Validity

External validity is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other settings, populations, or times. A study with significant sampling or self-selection biases often has low external validity, meaning the findings may not hold true outside the specific context of the survey.

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