POLLS AND SURVEYS What ARE they thinking?

POLLS AND SURVEYS WHAT EXACTLY IS THE DIFFERENCE??? POLLS SURVEYS Just one question Choose from several answers Several questions More than one area of concern The topic of the survey Demographic information such as age, income, gender

THE PURPOSE OF POLLING  Polls are used to gauge opinion about topics  Surveys are used to gauge satisfaction or opinion  Can be added to a story to help add relevance or context  Add another dimension to the story

REPORTING ON A POLL OR SURVEY In order to report on a poll or survey accurately, keep these things in mind: Was the poll objective? Was it conducted by someone who has something to gain in the outcome? If so, the results are likely skewed and not accurate Were the survey questions clear and accurate measures of what the survey intended to measure? Were the questions phrased in a way to lead the participants to answer a certain way?

CONTINUED…. Things to keep in mind when reporting on a survey: Were the questions clear? Was there the social desirability effect? (participants try to answer a question the way they think they should answer) Did the order of the questions skew the results? Priming: asking a question that incites emotion or personal interest and then asking for an opinion on an action; the first question LEADS them to answer to second one in such a way

CONTINUED…. Things to keep in mind when reporting on a survey: Who participated? Participants must represent the population they were drawn from Representative samples are samples that represent the population from which participants were selected Consider if it representative of gender, race and ethnicity, socio- economic status and grade level THE NUMBERS MUST BE PRESENT IN THE SURVEY AS THEY ARE IN THE POPULATION

CONTINUED... Things to keep in mind when reporting on a survey: Were there any problems with the poll? Was it conducted awhile ago? It may no longer be representative of the population Many voices are better than a few Making sure there is proper representation is CRUCIAL

RECAP! COVER THESE BASES: Was the poll objective? Were the questions clear? Social desirability effect? Was there priming? Who participated? Were there any problems with the poll?

DESIGNING YOUR SURVEY AND QUESTIONS ASK IF YOUR QUESTIONS: Measure what you want to find out Use the clearest, most direct language you can Lead the participants to certain answers They SHOULD NOT — the questions should be objective Allow for a variety of questions If the topic is complicated, make sure to break it apart and ask questions about each part

EXAMPLES OF GOOD SURVEY QUESTIONS  Opinions If you were to vote today, would you vote for student council president candidate A or candidate B?  Feelings What candidate do you believe gave the best speech: candidate A or candidate B?  Behaviors Did you volunteer for any student council campaigns?  Demographic data Gender, age, grade-level, race/ethnicity, income

PICKING THE RIGHT SAMPLE SAMPLE = REPRESENTATION OF POPULATION DIRECTLY INFLUENCED BY ISSUE AT HAND  Sample should accurately represent the population you are interested in – specificity  Once you know the sample, make sure that everyone in the group has a chance of participating  Random sampling - draw names from hat, take a list an pick every “nth” name  You need to be 95% certain of your results

HOW TO BE 95% CERTAIN  You’re going to have to do math… seriously Not really… you can have this fabulous website do it for you  Seriously… don’t try it on your own This calculator will figure the sample size for your population with an acceptable margin of error  95% certain = 19 times out of 20 you get the same results

POLLS AND SURVEYS What ARE they thinking?