Interpreting Consumer Reports' broadband survey data

In June 2021, Consumer Reports (CR) released the results of a nationally representative survey related to broadband use. On the heels of that survey, CR launched its “Let’s Broadband Together” initiative, which uses crowd-sourced methods to gather more data. The Technology Policy Institute has five suggestions to ensure the data yields its full potential:

1. Address the sample selection problem.
2. Take advantage of the large sample but avoid p-hacking.
3. Describe in detail how prices are derived from the submitted bills.
4. Follow M-Lab’s guidelines on how to report its speed results.
5. Make the raw data, not just the topline results, publicly available.

[Scott Wallsten is President and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute.]