Ray raises a good point but comes to the wrong conclusion. "Isn't a survey conducted by an individual without any resources unavoidably trivial? ... Much better to write a plan for a proper survey as Jane suggests."
We learn by doing, and students should learn far more from conducting their own survey and critically appraising the process than by being "armchair generals" of other people's research. The danger is that everyone is now taught to be so positive, to "big up" themselves and their findings. So findings from small convenience samples are generalized to the whole of humanity, especially when they get into the popular press. (ie Research shows ...)
This is also a consequence of the treadmill nature of current education, designing since the 1980s to encourage "productivity" and "efficiency". Hence my particular bugbear, the timed PhD that works to a deadline and, necessarily, produces a graduate who has been trained to jump through certain hoops and press the right levers, but cannot fairly be judged on their original contribution to knowledge.
Just a personal view - ignore the corporate stamps,
Allan
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