Layperson's guide to valid polling via Internet? Sites such as Survey Monkey allow a layperson to easily create and administer a questionnaire. However, the only thing I know about polling is that you can't just create a questionnaire, let anyone answer it, and get valid results from it. 
Is there a layperson-accessible guide to the problems and (hopefully) solutions to creating Internet-based polls from which valid conclusions can be drawn? If not, what would be the best route for a small-business owner unable to afford hiring a national polling company? 
(I'm not sure that this is on-topic for Cross Validated, but it seemed like the closest match...)
 A: To draw inferences from your sample you would want the sample to be a random sample from a target population.  The problem with running a survey on the internet is that it is passive and answered by those who find it and choose to answer. That will not be a random sample from your target population and it may include respondents from outside your target population.  You have no control.
A possibility to do this properly would be to get a list of email addresses for all the people you would like to consider to be a part of your target population.  Then you randomly sample names from the email list and send the survey to those people.  it may help to give them incentives to respond.  Then you will be left with only the problem of nonresponse bias.  But that is a general problem that is inherent to most surveys.  You just do everything you can to minimize the nonresponse.  Sometimes nonresponse bias can be assessed by followup surveys for the nonrespondents to hopefully get an idea of how their answers tend to differ from the responders (if they do).
