Last year I conducted a short, anonymous online survey of the non-Mexican, expat, retiree, second-home owning residents of the East Cape. Here I provide some basic summaries of the results. First, however, it's important to talk about the limits of the survey. One of the big problems with trying to do a survey of this population is that there actually isn't much information about it. Anywhere. This includes population estimates--and that makes sampling particularly difficult. During the survey I did ask people to provide general population estimates for the community where they lived, but those estimates have to be taken for what they are: non-scientific estimates.
In Cabo Pulmo, for example, the self-reported estimates ranged from 25 to 200 people. That's a pretty big range. Based upon estimates during my research in Pulmo, I'd put the range at somewhere between 125 and 200 people. That number drops dramatically in the off-season, however. In Los Barriles, which is one of the largest enclaves of non-Mexican residents on the East Cape, self-reported estimates ranged from 40 to 2,500 people. The most common response was 2,000 (4 of 8 people reported that number). During my time on the East Cape in 2012 I heard various estimates, ranging from about 500 to 2,000. Despite the rough estimates, it's pretty clear that this survey doesn't have enough responses to be considered a representative sample. I had a total of 39 responses, which isn't bad considering the highly
mobile nature of this population. Still, since the sample is so small,
the survey results are by no means definitive.
The survey is also limited, in part, because of how the sample was taken. All surveys have potential sources of bias and/or error, and this one is no exception. This was an online survey, in which people made the choice to participate (or not participate). This is not a random sample taken from a larger population in which every person had an equal mathematical chance of being selected. You can read more about sampling bias/error
here. I wrote the survey, posted it online, and then invited people to participate, mostly through the contacts I obtained during my year of research, and by posting the survey on a well-known online forum (Baja Nomad). This is known as an "opt-in" or "self-identified" sample because the participants are non-random volunteers. In this case, the data from the survey have not been weighted to reflect the larger population, primarily because I don't have reliable information about that population (as discussed above). Another obvious source of bias is the fact that the survey was online--this means that anyone without online access was automatically excluded. Ultimately, what this means is that it's not possible to calculate a sampling error for this survey, and that we can't make any generalizations about the larger non-Mexican/retiree population on the East Cape.
Regardless, the survey does provide some interesting and useful information about the sample of people who did respond. It gives us some preliminary insights into the lives of these people and opens up some good avenues for future investigation. Let's take a look at the results.