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78% of 163 people surveyed???

  • 17-06-2013 08:43PM
    #1
    toplinestreamli
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20 ✭


    I just watched an ad on telly and it said 78% of 163 people surveyed agreed with the results..... How could 78% of 163 people agree, that's 127.14!!! How could you have .14 of a person? On a survey, you either agree or disagree??? Always baffled me this, how you can have an even percentage of an odd number in a survey or am I missing something? Help please....


Comments

  • #2
    Victor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,652 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    The percentage is rounded. They mean 78% (127 of the 163 = 77.91%) of the group, not 78% of each individual.

    Of course, 163 isn't a particularly large sample size and any such claims should be taken with a large grain of salt.

    One would expect a margin of error of +4.5%, i.e. we are fairly certain that the actual number falls between 73.41% and 82.41%.


  • #3
    toplinestreamli
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20 ✭toplinestreamli


    Ahh..... I understand now.... Thanks.


  • #4
    Yakuza
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,141 ✭✭✭Yakuza


    Some more stats that make no sense:

    Sex Panther - 60% of the time, it works all of the time. :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9iXlOHtzV4


  • #5
    Nappy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 329 ✭✭Nappy


    toplinestreamli wrote: »
    I just watched an ad on telly and it said 78% of 163 people surveyed agreed with the results..... How could 78% of 163 people agree, that's 127.14!!! How could you have .14 of a person? On a survey, you either agree or disagree??? Always baffled me this, how you can have an even percentage of an odd number in a survey or am I missing something? Help please....

    Your not alone. These adds bother me as well!


  • #6
    Yakuza
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,141 ✭✭✭Yakuza


    It's not really a big deal; it's just a bit of rounding. To me (and, I suspect, most people) a percentage is a much clearer way for the advert to convey a ratio/fraction of how many people preferred a thingamajig to a whatchamacallit than the raw numbers. "78% of people surveyed blah blah blah" is more intuitive than "127 out of 163 people surveyed blah blah blah" .

    Having said that, I take any figures shown in any ad with a large pinch of salt, but in general, percentages are clearer and easier to convey. If I'm ever presented with x out of y statistics, the first thing I do is change it to a rough percentage in my head :)


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