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ViolentPhlegm on 24 June 2009
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nordlead said:
Wyku said:
ViolentPhlegm said:

Among other nonsense, their survey results say that 23% of XBOX 360 owners also have the HD DVD add-on. Whatever. Microsoft had sold 300,000 units worldwide when the add-on was discontinued.

Actually, they said 3% did, but what's 20% amongst friends?

Actually, I'm guessing he did the math. 3% of the US population is 20% of the X360 population within the US. However, I haven't run the numbers.


Sort of.  I used their numbers without respect to total population.  They say 13% of total respondents own an XBOX 360 and 3% of total respondents (not just the 360-owners subset) own the add on.  Thus 3/13 = 23% of respondents who own an XBOX 360 also own the add-on.  In the $50K-$75K income group they say 21% own a 360 and 11% own the add-on so 52% of 360-owners in that group own the add-on.  You can find lots of other questionable data but this one jumped out at me as being especially insane.

Why did this happen?  Well, they use the term "the external HD-DVD drive for the XBOX 360".  I suspect some people interpreted this as "Hard drive for XBOX 360", particularly since I doubt most of the general population are even aware of the HD DVD drive's existence. 

Also, bear in mind that this was an internet survey.  Phone surveys are almost always more accurate because the person asking the questions can gauge when there's confusion and provide clarification.  They can also provide feedback to let their employers know if they feel the questions are ambiguos or confusing as would surely have happened in this case.

Flawed survey through and through.