Masks and self-selecting surveys

A survey on Twitter cannot mask actual social research.

The broadcaster GB News claims:

Covid: GB News poll suggests most will not wear masks after Freedom Day

The article uses the result of a Twitter survey ran on the GB News account:

The result of the GB News poll shows that 72% of people would not wear a face mask if it was no longer a legal requirement.

No inferences from self-selecting surveys

A self-selecting survey allows respondents to put themselves in the sample. Another name for this kind of survey is an open access survey. Social media sites can allow users to run ‘polls’, where other people on the platform can take part.

We can make no inferences to the general population from self-selecting surveys.

There are many statistical problems with such surveys:

• Few limits on taking part: Social media surveys limit votes to one per account. People can make many accounts. Also, you do not need in the target population (e.g. UK adults) to vote.
• Social media users are not representative: Users of…