The name of the store and the following example of a survey were invented by the author. Kaufmann’s is a large department store that offers expensive clothing for high-income customers, both men and women. A limited collection of jewelry was launched for the first time, and a survey was designed to determine customers’ attitude to new items. On Wednesday, all the female customers in the store were asked the same question: “Did you enjoy our amazing new product offering? What did you like about it?”.
Firstly, since only women took part in the survey, one could note that conclusions may be weakened by undercover because males are also considered consumers of Kaufmann’s who should have been included in a sample. Secondly, it can be stated that the survey has a convenience sample, as only consumers who were in the store on Wednesday were interviewed. The interference from such a sample is expected to be misleading. Thirdly, a bias in the wording of questions may also be observed. All the respondents were asked the leading question that was innocuous yet aimed at getting a particular answer. In addition, one could mention that the second survey question is assumptive, as the survey-taker considers that a respondent enjoys a new product offering. This detail, in turn, could lead to the occurrence of response bias. Thus, based on all the above-said, it can be concluded that accurate and actionable data cannot be obtained from such a survey.