Polaris Help Center
Help Center HomeResearch Process White PapersResearch Methods White PapersThree-Minute TutorialsStat Calculator – Margin of ErrorStat Calculator – DifferencesStat Calculator – Sample SizeChi Square TestHelpful WebinarsQuestionnaire ExamplesOther Marketing Research ResourcesMarketing Research Glossary
Survey DesignTool for Calculating the Appropriate Sample Size
Polaris’ Help Center:
Statistical Tool for Calculating the Margin of Error in Survey Data Analysis
The term “margin of error” can be used to mean
sampling error in general. In media reports of poll results, the term usually refers to the maximum margin of errorfor any percentage reported from that poll. The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey’s results. The smaller the margin of error, the more trust you can place that the survey’s reported results are “true” (that is, representative of the larger population).