EDITORIAL: Asking entire student population for input would yield better results
Last week, about 4,000 students received a survey in their e-mail from the presidential transition team to determine what issues are the highest priorities to on-campus students.
The random sample of students — about one-fifth of the on-campus student population — is an adequate sampling for a scientific survey, but that is not what this undertaking needs.
The purpose of this survey is to compile the results and analyze them in order to advise CMU President George Ross as to what his priorities should be in campus affairs. If the transition team intends to use these results as actionable information, the results should be as close to the majority opinion of the student population at large as possible.
Surveys of random samplings of a population have their place in research and creating strategies. For example, during election seasons, polling services will poll random samplings of people to estimate public opinion. That has a lot of value to candidates, strategists and voters.
When it comes to an actual election, however, results are determined from as many people as possible. Similarly, decisions of the direction the university should be led in ought not be made on estimations, approximations or guesses.
It is not something that would create a massive amount more work for anybody; it would be as simple as sending the survey to the entire student listserv.
Even with a sample-size as large as 4,000 students, the number of those students who complete the survey will in all likeliness be relatively small.
As simple as it sounds, increasing the number of students that received the survey, the number of responses to the survey would also increase. Thus the collective opinion of the results would end up closer to the opinion of the entire student body.
This is not polling for a presidential election or a governor’s approval rating.
This is determining in which direction a university of more than 21,000 students should be led. Each of those tuition-paying students should have a voice in the matter.
