Sample Size

Writing at Public Book, Alexander Manshel, Laura B. McGrath, and J. D. Porter describe a survey that shows whether being nominated or winning a particular book prize matteers to book sales. There are some neat graphs and interesting comparisons between several different books.

The authors suggest that the prizes do have an impact on sales -- in short, the prizes matter. This shows how a larger sample size makes for more nuanced conclusions. By surveying a large number of people, they are able to draw conclusions based on large amounts of data.

In contrast, I surveyed only myself and came to the conclusion that the prizes have no impact on whether or not I purchase a book. This result is good enough to govern my purchasing habits, but not nearly enough to determine the actual impact of the prizes. So it's probably better that they did more research than I did, although I will say that my research was sufficient for my needs.