Question

A survey was carried out in BlackBush polder to assess farmers attitudes towards the Extension Service in the four villages _ Yakusari, Lesbeholden, Mibicuri and Johanna. Results showed that 96 percent of the respondents were very unhappy with the quality of services offered to them. NAREI extension officers expressed serious doubts about the integrity of the exercise . outline five aspects of the survey that these officers may legitimately question.

Answer 1

Following are some of the aspects which the officers may legitimately ask about the survey:

1. Population representative: The extension officers should see if the survey results are legitimate in a way that if they were administered to the population which is the true representation of the population. In the absence of sample being the true representative of the population, the results cannot be generalised and will fail if they are seen through the prism of empirical testing.

2. Sample Size: The extension officers in order to clear their doubts about the legitimacy of the results should see if the sample size was ample in the sense that it covered every aspect of the population. Small sample size puts a question on the credibility of the survey.

3. Sampling method: What was the sampling method which was chosen? Was it probability or none probability method and what is the rationale behind the implementation of such a method will tell extension officers the real motive of this survey.

4. Bias and error: The amount of bias whether it be random or non-random and the error present in the survey should be investigated by these officers.

5. Format: The general format, choice of questions, disguised questions, technical jargons will go a long way in predicting the generalisability of the survey.