What happens to subgroup results that have fewer than five participants?

What happens to subgroup results that have fewer than five participants?

• A. They are not reported
• B. They are highlighted in the report
• C. They are summarized with other groups
• D. They are posted publicly

Answer: (A)

When survey results are broken down into subgroups, some cells can have very few respondents. With fewer than five, the estimates become unreliable and highly variable, and the small size raises a real risk of identifying individuals. To protect privacy and ensure the data reported are trustworthy, those subgroup results are not reported. If needed, analysts might suppress or combine them with larger groups to maintain confidentiality and data quality. Highlighting tiny groups or posting them publicly could reveal identities or mislead interpretations, and simply summarizing them with other groups would hide potentially important differences.

When survey results are broken down into subgroups, some cells can have very few respondents. With fewer than five, the estimates become unreliable and highly variable, and the small size raises a real risk of identifying individuals. To protect privacy and ensure the data reported are trustworthy, those subgroup results are not reported. If needed, analysts might suppress or combine them with larger groups to maintain confidentiality and data quality. Highlighting tiny groups or posting them publicly could reveal identities or mislead interpretations, and simply summarizing them with other groups would hide potentially important differences.