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Randomizing Survey Answers For Accuracy
Saint Aardvark writes: "The New York Times reports that two researchers at IBM have come up with a way to persuade people to give correct answers to survey questions: randomize the results. Strangely enough, they can get accurate information out of the aggregate of enough answers -- but it's completely anonymized. Since conservative estimates say nearly half of all survey answers are bogus, there's an interest in persuading people to be more truthful. As ever, you can use the Random NY Times Registration Generator to falsify your registration details and read the article..."
In the past, I'd give false answers. Now I'll need to randomize my true/false answers to throw their randomness off.
Did you lie when answering this question?
O Yes
O No
O Cowboy Neal told me the answer
It doesn't take the irony nazi to point out the sweet, sweet irony in using the random NYT account generator to read the story.
Bringing irony to the Slash-masses
Personally, if I don't trust them enough to tell them how much I make, I'm not going to trust them to randomize my results. I don't see how this will increase accuracy -- especially if I keep telling everyone I'm a 108 year old female in Uganda making $100,000+ per year year who works in the sales department of an Educational field and plans to make purchases of an suv, a house, a console gaming system, a optical mouse in the next six months and rates thier internet experience as very low. My e-mail address is sjobs@mac.com and I would like to apply for your quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly newsletters and I do give permission to pass this information to your affiliates.
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
"Judge, I did not know she was 14 years old. I'm pleading innocent by reason of randomized, aggregate data!"
This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
I remember once I was watching an eleven year old kid fill out a form for something completely truthfully. When he hit submit, it took him back to the form, complaining that the age he gave was too young (for them to be collecting information on him), and suggesting that he fix it. So of course, he did.
huh?
Timeo idiotikOS et dona ferentes
>> information as an option versus...information as a requiremen
The New York Times thinks I'm a 146 year-old lady who makes less than $10,000 a year, has 3 children in high-school, and enjoys golf and motorsports in her spare time.