Active Low-Carber Forums - View Single Post - As a low carber and researcher I need your help!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbahn

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, nutribelle, but your research methods, vis-a-vis an online survey, are fundamentally meaningless and if you use the results in your dissertation don't be surprised to get royally slammed by your committee.

This type of survey suffers from an extreme and unquantifiable degree of self-selection bias. The only people participating are the tiny fraction of those that have potentially had the opportunity to participate, which is itself a highly-skewed sampling of your target population, and that have gone out of their way to do so. That means that they are very much NOT representative of ANY identifiable population and, in fact, the people that ARE representative are the ones that chose NOT to participate.

Furthermore, . . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by nutribelle

I would like to gather information about the opinions and experiences of people who have been on or currently on low carbohydrate diets.

And the above quote is the extent of the description we've gotten so far regarding the objectives of the survey request. We have no idea of the variety or extent of the people participating (this forum may be one source of many respondents), if there is an underlying hypothesis being tested, or a clear description of the specific aim or objective of the dissertation. Being an inclusive forum, we typically assume, in good faith, that providing any information helps without judging the rigor or intent of the person requesting the information. Providing the information requested without making unfounded criticisms maintains the respect and dignity of the people who frequent this forum while encouraging continuous dialog, which is the most valuable currency we exchange.