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I am jumping into the middle of this thread, so forgive me if I repeat what
has already been said.
STC salary surveys, like all surveys based on mailed questionnaires, are
only as accurate as the responses received. If one could get 100%
participation, the survey would accurately reflect the demographics of the
population surveyed, STC members. It would not *necessarily* reflect
accurately the population as a whole, all TWs.
However, only a fraction of STC members actually responded. Does this
sample *accurately* reflect either the population sampled (STC members) or
the population as a whole (all TWs)? Who knows? The probability is
certainly fairly high that it does, but there is always an opportunity for
skewness or bias in the results. If you believe the results are not
accurate, you have two choices. Either you can join STC and campaign among
members to respond to the survey next year or you can accept/reject the
results and go on from there.
No amount of discussion on this list can change the results or improve their
accuracy. The best you can hope for is to gain some further insight into
the methodology of the survey and, perhaps, some idea of the meaningfulness
of the results. However, I wouldn't bet the farm on either one.
