Above average in polling

[JGW3000]

Maybe this is nitpicking, but not every set can be above average. I've noticed that in almost every poll, the top vote-getting categories are either 'above average' or 'outstanding' or something with similar connotation.

Reminds me of a speech from a high-school valedictorian, in which she said that she was impressed that way more than half the students were above average

Edited October 7, 2014 by JGW3000

[Slegengr]

Reminds me of a speech from a high-school valedictorian, in which she said that she was impressed that way more than half the students were above average

Haha! That is humorous!

You are correct in that not every set can be above average, but I think there is a logical reason for it.

Most of the people that spend time responding to such polls are people that viewed the topic due to their interest in the set. It is possible that every set that users comment on is above what they personally believe the "average set" to be.

[eurotrash]

Reminds me of a speech from a high-school valedictorian, in which she said that she was impressed that way more than half the students were above average

I had a old one-legged teacher at Junior School. He made no secret of his missing leg (the crutch and no shoe was a bit of giveaway) so when he asked the class "What's the average number of legs in this room?" we had to count the number of legs and divide it by the number of people. The answer was 1.96 and 25 people (of the 26 ) had more than the average.

[AFOLguy1970]

It might have something to do with the good quality photos and availability of instructions for each set. Many people base their decisions on whether or not to buy a set based on the photos and possibly the instructions. So already, they likely have a favorable opinion of the set, otherwise why purchase it? On some of the polls, if I do not like the set based on appearance or some other information, there is a tendency not to give it a rating. Of course, there have been some exceptions. I did not purchase the Santa Workshop set, but gave it an "average" rating based on the review and photos.

[m0dulo]

Reminds me of a speech from a high-school valedictorian, in which she said that she was impressed that way more than half the students were above average

This is very possible. With a population of more than 100 students in which one received 0%, the rest could receive 1% and still be above average. Even with adjustments (curves, median, etc.), the school's average could still be above the average of other schools, districts, country, etc.

The answer was 1.96 and 25 people (of the 26 ) had more than the average.

Exactly. This is often why the median is more significant than the mean.