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<blockquote> <p>So, how much credence do you give to Princeton Review's descriptions and rankings, also based on voluntary survey data?<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Not much. </p>
<p>Self-selected surveys are notoriously inaccurate. Those phone-in polls that local TV news programs use to "assess" public opinion about this or that controversy are pretty much useless. That's why legitimate polling organizations spend tons of money developing scientifically-valid population samples. And then they go out and contact members of the sample and ask the poll questions. </p>
<p>Just asking for all comers who happen to feel like it to contact you and offer up their opinions is cheap and easy, but it is almost guaranteed to yield bad data.</p>