Surveys, Polls, and Data…OH MY!

I’m a huge fan of both qualitative and quantitative data, mostly because if analyzed correctly it can paint a very useful picture. However, data can be also be dangerous. How many times have you heard this from someone: “I read on [insert website here] that 75% of people think…”?

When considering data one must understand how the data was gathered, from whom the data was gathered, and from how many entities sampled.

Surveys can be a great way for a company to obtain data on its product(s), or a way to understand consumer wants and needs. A couple recent examples I want to present are: 1) The 2009 Engadget Awards and 2) Steam Hardware Survey

Both surveys produce lots of data in their results. Engadget is a survey completed by the user directly from their website. There are lots of categories and technology products to vote for. Below is a snippit of a few:

I consider myself fairly acute to the latest tech products. However, I was a little surprised to find some of Engadget’s survey questions…well…leading. For example, in the ‘Wireless Device or Technology of the Year’ category (see above), I feel like I am looking at the old Sesame Street bit entitled ‘One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other‘. The options are 3 wireless technologies, 2 consumer electronic charging devices and a home automation product. HUH? WTF?! Did they not have enough Wireless Technologies to have their own category? AND…the choice that is currently leading is a technology that while only recently officially *certified*, has been around for ages. I voted for MiFi BTW.

Also, ‘Tablet PC of the Year’ (see above). There are/were tablets before the iPad? hehe. I scratch my head wondering if the Lenovo is simply in the lead because no one knows ANY of the devices and simply chose it due to length of characters and inclusion of the word “capacitive multitouch”. I know I did.

Finally, and definitely not least (visit Engadget’s survey to see the rest) we have the ‘E-reader of the Year’. Yea Baby! The newest and arguably one of the biggest subjects in the tech world today. I don’t think there is any question the Kindle 2 (leading in the polls) should win this one. But wait, close on its heels is the Nook. The Nook? Wasn’t that released in very limited inventory only weeks prior to year end? Bravo Nook for capturing the hearts of the voters! You’re almost like a Republican with a Pickup truck!

One of my favorite surveys is the yearly Steam Hardware Survey. As a self proclaimed GAMER, I like to see where I fare in comparison to my running-and-gunning rivals around the world. For those of you not in the know, Steam is an online distribution medium for PC games. It’s an application that allows you to shop, pay for, and download games instantly. It’s also a community in the fact that it has built in friends lists, chat, and voice functionality. It allows you to see what games your friends are playing and join them (if you also have the game of course). Honestly, it’s great. Since Steam I can’t think of the last PC game I actually purchased at a brick-and-mortar store or other etailer in years.

Now that you know what Steam is, know that they have a mechanism for sucking all the technical data from your PC and sharing it with the world! Scared? I’m not, I love it! this method is harder for people to manipulate the results. In the end it produces more accurate data.

Would I use it to drive the optimum resolution I should build my businesses website? No. Would I use it to determine whether I should optimize my application to support multiple core CPUs? Maybe. Like I said earlier, take all this data with a grain of salt and consider the source (and sample).

Click on the image to visit the Steam Survey results…and feel free to consume the data anyway you see fit!