Survey of Public Opinion Regarding Immigrants and Immigration
explanatory Essay
1508 words
Survey of Public Opinion Regarding Immigrants and Immigration
My perspective on the issue of US immigration is different than most Americans because I came to the United States as an immigrant. Firsthand, I know what it's like to stand in long lines at the immigration office, hoping to have my number called to speak with a screening officer. I know how hard it is to survive the jobless 6-month parole period while waiting for an immigration interview. And I know what it's like to have my immigration application denied due to technicality. I sympathize with people coming to the US because I know the system is not easy to navigate.
For these reasons, I contacted 30 people and asked the following question: "Should the relatives of immigrants in the USA be allowed to move to this country?" I selected a group of 15 men and 15 women from family and friends as I thought this group would be easy to reach and would agree participating in a survey. Age ranged from approximately 24 to 83 and included 10 direct immigrants or children of immigrants from Australia, England, India and Italy. I personally interviewed, telephoned or e-mailed each person the survey question and had a follow up conversation asking for reasons supporting their opinion. In an attempt to identify trends, participants were also asked to provide the following demographic information:
Age
Ethnic Group
Marital Status
Sex
Education Level
Religion
Occupation
Birthplace
Citizenship
I anticipated three outcomes from this survey. First, I predicted a majority of respondents would agree that relatives of immigrants should be allowed into the US with the following conditions: first, they immigrate legally; second, they are sponsore...
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...e was that people were curious to discover what the popular opinions were. Immediately after completing the survey, several participants were curious and asked about other peoples' responses. I suspect this is because people need a sense of belonging to a group and like their beliefs to be in line with popular opinion.
I believe the results of this survey to be accurate as the survey was conducted in a fair and professional manner. However, I also discovered how easy it can be to manipulate the data and the opinions of participants to favor a single viewpoint. Surveys are an important method of gathering, summarizing and presenting large amounts of data. However, when relying on polls to form opinions or make decisions, people should consider the source, look for any conflicts of interest, contemplate other avenues of information and draw their own conclusions.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that their perspective on the issue of us immigration is different than most americans because they came to the us as an immigrant.
- Explains that they selected a group of 15 men and 15 women from family and friends as they thought this group would be easy to reach and would agree participating in the survey.
- Explains that they anticipated three outcomes from the survey: a majority of respondents would agree that relatives of immigrants should be allowed into the us with the following conditions: they immigrate legally; they are sponsored and supported by their families; and
- Opines that they expected all respondents born outside the us to be in favor of allowing relatives of immigrants into us. some time in the future, they could be active in sponsoring their own relatives.
- Explains that they anticipated approximately 10% of caucasian men to oppose additional immigration of any kind. they could feel threatened by continuing support for affirmative action measures.
- Explains that surveying is an extremely time-consuming exercise, especially when you personally know the people being polled. most conversations lasted for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Explains that 83 percent of participants agreed that relatives of immigrants should be allowed to move to the us, while 13% answered "maybe" and went on to qualify their answer with conditions.
- Explains that their initial prediction in favor of immigration held true, although not all participants had the same reasons for doing so.
- Explains that not one foreign-born american immigrant anticipated having to house or sponsor relatives in the foreseeable future. 50% of the people surveyed are 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation americans.
- Opines that their last prediction was disastrous. not one caucasian male answered "no" to the survey question.
- Explains that one caucasian female answered "no" to the survey question, but again, not for the reasons i suggested. this person was partitioning for fairness in immigration by suggesting that people without relatives in the us would be discriminated against.
- Explains that interesting demographic patterns can be seen when analyzing the data. most of these statistics seem unrelated to the survey question.
- Explains that pollsters can manipulate the numbers to serve their own political agendas by using seemingly unrelated information.
- Opines that people should consider the source and political agenda of the reporting agency when relying on survey results to form opinions or make decisions.
- Explains that the average survey participant could be a married, catholic, college educated, caucasian, male or female us citizen, aged under 50, who works in white collar industry.
- Explains that they plan to conduct a survey in person or on the telephone and consider an internet poll.
- Opines that people were curious to discover what the popular opinions were. they suspect this is because people need a sense of belonging and like their beliefs to be in line with popular opinion
- Opines that surveys are an important method of gathering, summarizing and presenting large amounts of data, but people should consider the source, look for conflicts of interest, contemplate other avenues of information, and draw their own conclusions.
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