Learning to live with the numbers.
This article presents the author's opinion on the reporting of public opinion polls during the 1976 U.S. presidential campaign. Numbers in polls were regarded as something awesome, not subject to question by mere word people. All of that has been outgrown now. Reporting of the polls in the 1976 pres...
| Publicado en: | Columbia Journalism Review Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. 29 - 32 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Columbia Journalism Review
Jan/Feb1977
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=16303614&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 16303614 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 0010194X CJR jtl: Columbia Journalism Review issn: 0010194X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan/Feb1977 vid: 15 iid: 5 pid: 126 pub: Columbia Journalism Review artinfo: ui: 16303614 ppf: 29 ppct: 3 formats: tig: atl: Learning to live with the numbers. aug: au: Meyer, Philip su: Public opinion polls Journalistic reporting United States presidential elections Response rates Presidential candidates United States sug: subj: United States Public opinion polls Journalistic reporting United States presidential elections Response rates Presidential candidates ab: This article presents the author's opinion on the reporting of public opinion polls during the 1976 U.S. presidential campaign. Numbers in polls were regarded as something awesome, not subject to question by mere word people. All of that has been outgrown now. Reporting of the polls in the 1976 presidential campaign was done for the most part with appropriately informed skepticism. When polls were sponsored by a candidate or his supporters, readers were so informed. When differences between two opposing candidates were within the margin of sampling error, that was usually pointed out. When the timing of a poll was relevant to the story at hand, reporters were quick to notice. In 1968, such caution was the exception, not the rule. It is obvious that reporters and editors have done some homework. And one thing that has enabled them to do that homework is their increasing use of quantitative methods in news gathering. The competitive use of polls under time pressure is a healthy development precisely because it does not permit us to compare notes and reach consensus. Different interpretations are visible in the marketplace and are forced to compete. Moreover, every inference and interpretation is based on a traceable trail of observation and logic. As the proliferation of polls makes the complexities of polling more visible, readers may become less enchanted with polls, and that, too, would be a healthy outcome. pubtype: Periodical doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 1977 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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