Dear Reader:
ABC News polling director speaks out against 'game addiction' NIMF findings
The problem: This study was conducted among members of an opt-in online panel – individuals who sign up to click through questionnaires on the internet in exchange for points redeemable for cash and gifts. There are multiple methodological challenges with these things… but the most basic – and I think least arguable – is that they’re based on a self-selected “convenience sample,” rather than a probability sample. And you need a probability sample to compute sampling error…
This is far from an inconsequential issue. The public discourse is well-informed by quality data; it can be misinformed or even disinformed by other data. It is challenging – but essential – for us to differentiate. - ABC News polling director Gary Langer
The last few days have been filled with rebuttals to the NIMF poll from various sources. People are really rallying behind the game industry on this one.