Posted on 12/10/2005 8:28:04 AM PST by alnick
I was just called by an NBC pollster. I found it interesting that I was first asked if I think the country is headed in the right or wrong direction, and only after I answered "right," did the man ask my age, and then tell me, "Oh, I'm sorry. The computer is screening for age groups and we're not looking for opinions from your age group at this time. Maybe we'll call you for your opinion later."
Now, it seems to me that they're screening for right way/wrong way opinions as opposed to age group. Why else would they have asked that question before asking my age.
I suspect the computer is programmed to allow a certain, lower, percentage of right way responses than wrong way, so they can report that the American people believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and use that poll "result" as a club with which to beat this adminstration.
THere are many things I believe are bringing this country in the wrong direction. I mean, the media themselves, including NBC, are the very ones I hold most responsible for the country headed the wrong way, but I was not about to give them ammunition to make things even worse.
Popularity polls, like the "news" is a bought and paid for commodity, very little objectivity if any.
IMHO
When I say it wouldn't happen, I mean that no valid sample survey would ask a content question, then ask for demographic information and stop the interview at that point.
There has to be a fixed order in which questions are asked. The order described would not be it. If it is, or they are free to change up the order of the questions, that's not a valid technique in surveys.
A valid survey would continue to take the information and then count the findings or not in the final results, not cut it off after one content question.
This certainly confirms what we always knew, doesn't it.
It's called "fiddling with the poll results until they get the desired results".
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