Showing posts with label survey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label survey. Show all posts

Thursday, February 25, 2010

My Argument Against Publishing Survey Results


A survey is a well known tool used by many businesses and various companies to know their status with the customers. Some companies use the survey to know the customer's reaction to their products while others want to know how they fare compared to competition. This tool is provided to businesses so that they will know how they can improve.

Did I say anything about publishing the results of the survey? No. That is why I am against the published results by survey companies, private institutions or anyone who goes out and ask people as a form of survey. These results should never be given out to the people. The results should be kept private. They should be divulged only to those who commissioned the survey.

What happens when the survey gets published?

* The veracity is automatically questioned - publishing the opinion of some people will never be accepted by everyone. The old adage "you can't please everyone" and in this age of the internet, the opposition to a specific opinion could be vicious.

* The survey becomes an advertisement - I don't care if the survey is true. What I care about is that the survey becomes a form of advertisement. I even consider it as a form of pressure since people might be forced to patronize a product, watch a show or vote for a candidate because everyone is doing it.

I'm not questioning the results of the survey or if the survey is good for our country. I think it's a great tool but the results should be kept private. The current practice of public survey is a form of harassment or brain washing. We don't need to know what people think in some places - let us think clearly by learning more about the facts - not the survey.