Healer Changes Straw Poll from Reddit

[Deceptus]

I am not happy with the change of AST, but I also agree the poll are not very meaningful.

On a statistical basis, you're wrong. With the number of responses, it's statistically valid.

and lacking proper way to stop repreat voting.

It's IP restricted so you can't re-vote from the same devices on the same network.

The poll is simply yes or no, anyone can vote not just those who have get at least one heal to 70,

Many polls don't make you qualify yourself specifically. Would it have been better if they said, "Are you a current healer, have you healed in the past, or do you ever plan to heal in the future" Absolutely, but it's not necessary. The response would have likely been in the high 90's or even 100% because most people who respond to that poll would be healers.

Just like most who respond to a tank poll would be tanks.

[Comfort]

On a statistical basis, you're wrong. With the number of responses, it's statistically valid.

It's IP restricted so you can't re-vote from the same devices on the same network.

People can use a VPN and actually vote multiple times.

As to the poll.

I would say that a 2 option poll (yes/no) is really poor to judge the topic on.

The question could be interpreted differently by different players.

[Deceptus]

People can use a VPN and actually vote multiple times.

I highly doubt many would actually go through the trouble to manipulate it that much. I'm sure people might now that you bring it up though.

[Misutoraru]

On a statistical basis, you're wrong. With the number of responses, it's statistically valid.

according to census, we have roughly 660k active character with 1,044 votes, it is not even close to 1% of the population

Many polls don't make you qualify yourself specifically. Would it have been better if they said, "Are you a current healer, have you healed in the past, or do you ever plan to heal in the future" Absolutely, but it's not necessary. The response would have likely been in the high 90's or even 100% because most people who respond to that poll would be healers.
Just like most who respond to a tank poll would be tanks.

a parametric test would be way more powerful, and it will also answer the issue of why and what, that have not been able to address with just "Yes and No"
Like I mention earlier, ppl can be happy or unhappy about healer change with all sort of reasons, and a simple "Yes and No" poll would have very limit information to use a feedback

if OP modify his poll to include more information like which healer role they main, or even state the reason they are unhappy or happy about the change, it would be more informative

[Deceptus]

according to census, we have roughly 660k active character with 1,044 votes, it is not even close to 1% of the population

And we have 330 million people in the US and 1000 polled respondents is a good metric of almost any topic. Polls are samples. Nothing more. They're supposed to be representative of the whole.

[Gaethan_Tessula]

And we have 330 million people in the US and 1000 polled respondents is a good metric of almost any topic. Polls are samples. Nothing more. They're supposed to be representative of the whole.

A professionally conducted poll will carefully consider what populations they randomly select from. 1000 people living in Portland metro are going to think different than 1000 people in the rural southeast. Polls try to select at random, since that's the only way they actually approximate a population accurately. The issue with this poll is that the population engaging with it is highly unlikely to be random and the answers to the question posed are too broad imo. It also has no way to weight the population for sampling biases.

As much as I am dissatisfied with the healer changes, I have to agree with the other side here: this poll is poorly constructed (blind yes/no), poorly controlled (possibility of duplicate votes, onus is on those polled to find poll, weighting sample is impossible), and pulls from a population (people who have enough investment in the game and issue to participate in a poll on English language fan forums) that is arguably not representative of the playerbase as a whole. I mean, most casually created internet polls given to the public at large are, so I don't mean to imply anything against its creator.

It's a quick way to gauge opinions in the broadest strokes possible, it's not meaningless, but I'd never call it valid or statistically significant and therefore wouldn't use it as a tool in debate.

A better poll would likely call random active players, and would be more involved with the questions asked. Of course, I doubt anyone is going to actually DO that.

[Deceptus]

A better poll would likely call random active players, and would be more involved with the questions asked. Of course, I doubt anyone is going to actually DO that.

True but you have to work with the data you have.