Misleading data

It states that the city council sent survey forms to 64,000 households, of which 1,150 responded, yet the generalisation is made that this figure represents nine out of 10 households and is 91 per cent of Oxford residents.

For anyone who knows mathematics, these figures are grossly exaggerated -- 1,150 households from 64,000 is representative of only 1.8 per cent of the population.

It would be just as fair an assumption to say that the 62,850 households that did not respond did so because they do not feel that strongly about this matter. I am happy for a ban on smoking in public places.

Even though I am a smoker myself, I do not want to inflict passive smoking on others against their will, and I also plan to quit in the not-too-distant future.

However, as a student, I have been told that any research or survey data must be representative of the population being measured.

With the figures the city council is using, generalisations are made on very little data.

This is deceiving the public, a quite common practice in surveys and studies released to the media and public. Antonina Breen, Walkers Height, Finstock