Gnizmo said:
Although it actually might be just that they phrased it more as a wish list than an intent to buy. The end justification then being the items that end up lower than expected would be priced higher than the general consumer is willing to pay. I am reluctant to believe any of the items are still viewed as over priced right now save for perhaps the iPad. |
Research companies are trying to avoid picking a stupid sample, though. Let's say in a phone surves they accidentally call 2000 males at the age of 40 with roughly the same income. Obviously that would affect the survey's results. But research companies know preferences of certain demographics and social groups.
For instance prior to the 2005 elections in Germany polls showed the conservatives polling around 45%. They only got 35% of the votes, though. The reason for this was not random polling, though (because research companies know about this and know how to meassure a screwed sample). They had simply underestimated the number of swing voters.
As long as you know what you're doing there is no "random sample". VGChartz does the same. They don't get data from all stores so they have to calculate store preferences, obviously. Just like Media Create and NPD.