Our Survey says - ?

In my previous blog entry I mentioned the AA report that purported to link "iPod Oblivion" to pedestrian injuries. As an aside in the Mirror article it mentions a survey run by Kia Motors with the results that many motorists don't recognise basic road signs. Looking for this I spotted mention of a "Kia Motors UK Pothole Survey". Other than being about the road network what do these three surveys have in common.

I can't find them.

Oh I can find references to them, I can find quoted results, but I can't find the actual survey itself or even a press release from the organisation in question from which this information was gleaned. So how were these surveys conducted? We don't know. Do the results published match the data gathered? We don't know. Do those who quote these surveys have access to all that? I'm betting not.


So if I were to state I'd run a survey and discovered that the majority of people think the Moon is made of cheese do you think it would get published in some 'the decline of science' article? I doubt it because I'm not a 'name'. However if I were to persuade the Royal Astronomical Society to issue a press release stating such do you think it would get published and believed? Would a single journalist contact the Society to check how the survey was conducted or would the 'name' of the RAS be enough to carry it through?

What do you think?