Analytics and publishing powerhouse Nielsen continues to find new ways to charge clients more money for services that do little but make for a good press release. (Note to self: AWESOME BUSINESS MODEL!!)

In this doozy of a round, beginning next month, perpetually flailing Nielsen will “shadow” a group of 450 consumers, in separate phases throughout the year, and record any media they consume through each 24-hour day, whether magazines, books, DVDs, or YouTube videos.

If it sounds ambitious, it is, which is why they’re teaming with Ball State University and Sequent Partners (”on behalf of the Committee for Research Excellence”). Recruiting participants will be part of Nielsen’s job, and they’ll pull from the same pool they use to deliver flawed television ratings.

So why does this sound like it’s going to go horribly wrong?

For one, it’s Nielsen, so you should already expect that.

But number two, the sample size is a mere 450 people. They’ll have you believe that that number of subjects is ample to give you qualified, statistically-sound results. And they’d be right; generally, you need only 30 subjects to provide sound analysis.

Except when they break it down by demographic, which is what Nielsen and its clients always like to do.

If the group of 450 consumers is split equally by sex, that’s 225 men and 225 women. Still a decent sample size. But what about when you break that down by ethnicity? Age? Income? Education? Profession? Renters vs. owners?

Suddenly, Nielsen will be lucky if they can give you a single 40-year-old black woman with a master’s degree, let alone a sample size that can deliver any meaningful data about a group like her.