On Small Sample Sizes And Analysts With Way Too Much Free Time

from the people-pay-for-this-research? dept

Mon, Jun 19th 2006 11:02pm — Mike Masnick

It's really amazing of the ridiculous claims that come out of supposedly reputable analyst firms. It makes you wonder who actually pays them for their reports, and whether or not they get any actual value out of them. Take, for example, the latest report from analyst firm NPD Group, where someone actually bothered to realize that all of the winners of American Idol happened to be southerners. Yes, the south is now 5 for 5 in providing singing sensations beloved by the voting public. Based on this ridiculously small sample size, and not much else it seems, the NPD Group is claiming this amazing coincidence is actually because Cingular sponsors the show, and Cingular is (conspiracy theory alert!) based in the south! Of course, there's one huge problem in this theory. Beyond the fact that Cingular is (yes, you remember now, don't you?) a nationwide carrier with customers all over the country, the only reason they're sponsoring the event at all is because they ended up with the contract after buying AT&T Wireless a few years back. The first two seasons of the show were actually sponsored by AT&T Wireless -- and Cingular simply inherited the sponsorship deal with the merger. Of course, AT&T Wireless is also a nationwide carrier... but its headquarters were based in Washington. So, if this bizarre theory had any merit, the first two winners should have come from the Pacific Northwest.

8 Comments

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Dom, 20 Jun 2006 @ 12:17am

Joke
That's a complete joke. These people get paid to spout this nonsense?
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Sohrab, 20 Jun 2006 @ 1:09am

Member, we also never went on the moon! If was all a pack of lies!!!
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Dam, 20 Jun 2006 @ 2:48am

Too Many Analysts, Too Many Lawyers
It's the same with lawyers, there's too many of them all chasing the same cases. The result - idiotic product liability litigation that does little but line the pockets of the lawyers at the expense of everyone.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jun 2006 @ 5:25am

Arent Cingular/AT&T the ones that admitted to a voting error in the American Idol contest that just ended? So they rigged it so a Southerner would win and then they could put out this analysis report! I knew!
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Joe Schmoe, 20 Jun 2006 @ 7:31am

there's an incestuous southerners joke in here somewhere
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Tin Ear, 20 Jun 2006 @ 9:10am

What is American Idol?
I knew there was a reason that I never felt inclined to watch the show... All of my idols came from the British Invasion! ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jun 2006 @ 9:21am

American Idol sucks anyway
Seriously, what is the hype surrounding this show? The only episodes worth watching are the auditions and that is for the pure humor content anyway. After that, it's just a bunch of wannabe singers and some ridiculously rude british guy that thinks he's funny, when in fact he looks like a complete moron. In any other professional job, the guy would get fired for that kind of attitude.
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Chronno S. Trigger, 20 Jun 2006 @ 11:25am

What would they would find
if they looked at where the voters were coming from or where the rest of the singers came from?
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