Originally Posted by
Annika L
I agree with the concern about truthful responses. Not sure how Gallup pursues their responses, given the sensitivity of the topic. I've always heard that the general percentage of LGB in the general population is around 10% (thought I'd heard that this is true across most species that have been studied as well)...and my recollection is that those numbers came from reputable research institutions, who would have a better idea of survey techniques for sensitive material...but could also be maybe 'merica is just a lil more moral than the rest of the world! ;) (though of course blacks and women would be a little worse than the white men)
But DD, the suggestion that we can't estimate closely and with great confidence the percentage of a large population that has quality X, unless we survey every single member...is just silly. This is what the whole field of statistics is about. If the sample is reasonably construed as random, and the data are collected in a responsible fashion, including the question asked, how people are contacted, and followed up, etc.; then N = 121,000 (even in a population 10-100 times our size) should give an estimate that is within 1-2 percent of the correct percent with an *extremely* high level of confidence (I haven't "run the numbers" with this one, but I would expect that the confidence level here is at least 99.5%...so less than 1 in 200 chance that the estimate is *not* within 1-2 percentage points of the actual percentage.