In his book, Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know, Herbert Asher explains why it is important for the “average citizen” to understand the use of polling in reporting, as it has become an important instrument for newspapers and other forms of media to express public opinion on various political issues. Polls can both be useful and misleading. [there can be a sentence added here to give more context to what the paper entails] In this paper I will explore the ways in which polls are used in reporting and their influence on both the public and policy. Then, I will demonstrate the ways in which they can be manipulated, by using the same polling data to support arguments both for and against [insert issue topic]. Polls and surveys are able to provide a snapshot of public opinion in a moment of time; they can be both useful and fickle, given the context, as well as the methods, of the polling. Primarily, newspapers and researchers collect data through self-administered questionnaires, telephone surveys, and face-to-face interviews (Asher 118-122). Each of these has their benefits and drawbacks that influence the reported results. For example, some respondents have non-attitudes or no opinion of the subject at hand, but will provide answers anyway, misrepresenting or skewing public opinion to appear more strongly in …show more content…
For example, a way of combatting the non-opinions and non-attitudes that can falsify results is by giving respondents background information before they are asked the question. (Add more here?) Additionally, there are different types of sampling methods that are used to reliably draw from a random and representative portion of the population. Simple, systematic, stratified random and multistage cluster sampling are all ways of collecting data from a portion of the population to represent the opinion of the population as a whole
Two sampling methods include mail surveys and convenience sampling, a variation of a nonprobability sample. Mail surveys, inexpensive way to contact individuals over a large geographical area, provide anonymity to the respondent, and eliminate interview bias. Convenience sampling, a nonprobability sample, the only criteria is the convenience of the unit to the researcher, fast and uncomplicated, but the sampling error not determined.
In the wake of the 2016 general election, Michael Lind published a piece on The Smart Set entitled: Can Electoral Reform Save America? This piece centered around a single question on the ballot of a single state, question 5 in Maine, and the impact on electoral reform it could have for the country according to Lind. Using deconstruction, Lind analyzes the idea of a Ranked Choice polling system, rather than the first-past-the-post system that is currently in place in the United States. His allusions to the past as well as separate government entities globally, as well as a deconstruction of both polling systems and the impact they have (or could have) allows the reader to absorb information and produce their own personal opinion.
The first method I will look at is the rt method which is built upon collected data from surveys etc. Its main plus points being that it uses a much larger sample than the other methods because it takes less time to collate the results. It is also useful because it allows for further research to be added - it can be updated. There are a number of problems with this. The subjects may not feel comfortable and could answer just to please the experimenter. A big problem with the method is that it does not give enough range for the subject. They are restricted within the boundaries of the tick boxes. The researcher can only learn so much.
...ling or the results. The sample was sufficient enough to prevent any hastiness or weak generalizations and the process by which they went about collecting the data was completely random in terms of selecting a balanced and equal number of participants. The target population was the general American public and these methods seem to accurately reflect the target’s characteristics. With the techniques conducted by Rasmussen it becomes possible for a bias to creep in. The main issue comes with the online surveys because, despite being sent to a specific set of people, the amount of those who decided to participate or if it was the correct person can not be out of the control of the pollsters, which is one aspect was. The target population for this then, the active voters in the U.S., becomes harder to connect to due to the lapse in full randomly selected participants.
The two key terms “agenda setting” and “gotcha” journalism are going to be used within this paper to show you how politicians and news organizations try to persuade the public. The “agenda setting” is a term that “involves using the news to influence what the public regards as important for them to think about in society and politics.” (Bennett, Lance pg. 23) This is a major tool for news organizations or politicians to seek a public relation toward a certain aspect that they’re addressing their agenda and framing it to formulate their partisan viewpoints. Now for “gotcha” jour...
A survey can be defined as a gathering of a sample of data or opinions considered to be representative of a whole. Such as when the United States government polls a random selection of people throughout the country to get an accurate reading of the people's overall prospective of what the American people think is best for the country. As I almost reach the age of eighteen, not only do I have to start worrying about my career and college, I have to affliate myself with a party and prepare to vote. I have taken three online polls and they all came out with similar results; I am a republican. The three polls I took were The Political Affiliation Quiz, The Political Quiz, and Political Compass. I liked them all but all for various reasons.
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
Every citizen in the United States is a principal to one of the most powerful agents in the entire world, the president. And in order to avoid many principal-agent dilemmas, it must be necessary for the people to maintain control of their agent more than once every four years at the ballot box. This control takes the form of public opinion on a daily basis. How exactly does public opinion shape the expansive powers for the President of the United States? Is it more beneficial to the president for achieve policy goals or is it more necessary to constrain the already growing power of the presidency? Over time and through many technological advancements such as radio or internet, the president has become more available to the people and therefore the relationship between the two has become stronger. In numerous situations, this relationship has become a “two-sided blade” for power. Public opinion is inarguably the strongest check and balance of the presidential position and prevents the creation of grossly unpopular policies; however, there are certain situations where public opinion can be manipulated to gain greater informal power.
Zorn, Eric. “One thing polls show accurately: Changed minds." Chicago Tribune Nov 9, 2004: 1.
The research is not without its limitations. One of the challenges that would be faced would be establishing the accuracy and bias in the various answers given by respondents. Some of the information may be dishonest, biased and unclear. This would render the report unreliable.
Sampling bias (pg. 112) – a sampling method can be called biased if the results of the research found favors the outcome the researcher is looking for. The researcher ultimately controls/influences whether the results are biased and potentially misleading. If a researcher thinks that football players are more susceptible to concussions, the researcher may only look at specific positions where the players take more hits to the head for their research which could affect the results looking at football players as a whole.
The Advantages and Limitations of Social Surveys in Sociological Research To survey something, is to carry out a systematic overview so that a researcher can produce a comprehensive general report on it. Survey method is often used by positivist sociologists seeking to test their hypotheses, and to investigate causes and examine variables. As with every other sociological research, survey has its own advantages and limitations. Positivist research, which is in the scientific tradition, begins with a hypothesis that can be either confirmed or rejected according to the data collected. One of the significant advantages of survey method is that, it can be used to collect data that is a representative of a larger population.
If the questions are not themselves biased, most bias can be eliminated by stratifying the sample. Stratification is the process of sorting the sample into groups (“strata”) that have been identified in advance as highly relevant to the issue being studied. For instance, when the topic is abortion, both a person’s sex and religious affiliation will influence his or her position. If we cannot get a highly random sample, then we should stratify our sample for at least these two factors. So in addition to asking them whatever we want to know, we need to determine these additional facts.
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. As long as the newspapers, internet, network television, etc, continued to be easily accessible to the public, the media will continue to have an influence in shaping its opinions. Factors such as agenda-setting, framing and priming help shape the public opinions. Agenda-setting is when the media focuses their attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinion on, whereas framing allows the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then make them appear more salient. Similarly, priming works by repeatedly exposing certain issues to public. As the issues get more exposure, the individual will be more likely to recall or retain the information in their minds. This paper will discuss these three factors played out systemically by media and how our opinions are constantly being influence and shape by them.
Participation can be seen as “the inclusion of a diverse range of stakeholder contributions in an on-going community development process, from identification of problem areas, to the development, implementation and management of strategic planning” (Schafft and Greenwood, 2003, p. 19).