Lesson 4: Evaluating Real Surveys

About 30 minutes — Activity-based lesson

What You Will Learn

This lesson covers:

Questions to ask: who was surveyed, how many, how were they selected?
Red flags: tiny samples, convenience sampling, self-selected respondents
How news reports polls: what gets left out
Activity: evaluate 3 real polls or surveys for sampling quality

Questions to ask: who was surveyed, how many, how were they selected?

This section covers the key ideas about questions to ask: who was surveyed, how many, how were they selected?. Discuss with your group or family and explore the concepts together.

Red flags: tiny samples, convenience sampling, self-selected respondents

This section covers the key ideas about red flags: tiny samples, convenience sampling, self-selected respondents. Discuss with your group or family and explore the concepts together.

How news reports polls: what gets left out

This section covers the key ideas about how news reports polls: what gets left out. Discuss with your group or family and explore the concepts together.

Activity: evaluate 3 real polls or surveys for sampling quality

This section covers the key ideas about activity: evaluate 3 real polls or surveys for sampling quality. Discuss with your group or family and explore the concepts together.

Check Your Understanding

1. What questions should you ask about any survey?

Answer: How many people were surveyed? How were they selected? Who was excluded? When was it conducted? Who funded it? These questions reveal whether results are trustworthy.

2. What are red flags in survey reporting?

Answer: No mention of sample size, 'online poll' (self-selected), 'people who responded to our email' (biased sample), and very small sample sizes.

3. How do news reports sometimes misrepresent polls?

Answer: By reporting the conclusion without mentioning sample size, margin of error, or who was surveyed. '65% of Americans think...' means little without knowing who was asked.

4. What is margin of error?

Answer: A measure of how much the results might differ from the true population value. A poll with ±3% margin of error means the true value is likely within 3 points of the reported number.

Key Takeaways

Questions to ask: who was surveyed, how many, how were they selected?
Red flags: tiny samples, convenience sampling, self-selected respondents
How news reports polls: what gets left out
Activity: evaluate 3 real polls or surveys for sampling quality

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Practice & Quiz

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Practice Activities

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