Comments on: Some Facts About PDA Owners

11% of PDA owners have a wireless modem, but only half of those have a service provider that lets them use it? Why would that other half spend the money on a wireless modem (still not cheap) and then not use it?

--GrouchoMarx

Our teeth are 17% whiter too!

This is because only half of them are spies.

Anybody who has taken even an introductory epidemiology and statistics course can see more problems with this study than you can shake a stick at.

This is all I could find on their study methodology on their web site (CE.org):

{{{The ”PDA Owner Profile” study was conducted via Internet Web form to a sample of 649 adult PDA owners during December 2000. The complete study is available free to CEA member companies.}}}

I'm not a CEA member company, so I guess that's all I'll ever see. Still, the mere fact that the study was conducted via the Internet makes it biased in favor of people who utilize technology. This is known as "sampling bias." Also, self-reporting studies (I'm assuming that filling out the web form was voluntary) are virtually always flawed due to referral bias. Futhermore, given the size of the current PDA user base, a sample of less than 650 people is really far too small to give the study any power.

As an further example of bad statistics, did you know that fully 50% of all American high school students scored below the mean on standardized exams?

The PDA Divide...

iis it a report or propaganda ?

I am an avid PDA user, and I must say that I am not wealthy! I use my PDA to stay organized, and to stay current on the news.

The statistics quoted broadly agree with a study I made in early 2000 on a large PDA retailer with both online and offline presence. The sample sizes taken in this study were 794 and 850 respectively. Although income levels were not measured, generally a very high proportion held jobs as professionals, managers, executives or businessmen. Virtually all users in both samples examined are internet users and have access to a computer either at home or in the office. I hope these observations are useful. My name and the retailer's name has to be withheld for confidentiality reasons.