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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Opinion Polls == Propaganda
Message-ID: <681@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Feb-84 17:47:03 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.681
Posted: Tue Feb  7 17:47:03 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Feb-84 19:00:45 EST
References: <1642@rlgvax.UUCP>
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
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================I am not swayed by the statistical proofs of their accuracy; that is
irrelevant.  The opinion poll (more often than not, I claim) is
inherently flawed in the framing of the question, and further
bias is easily factored in by using clever sampling techniques.

So, given a statement such as "80% of America supports the nuclear
freeze" we must surely wonder, (a) What is the text of the question
the respondents were answering, (b) How were the respondents selected,
(c) When were they asked, (d) Who commissioned the pollster.  There
are probably other factors that could introduce bias into the result,
but these would be enough.

...{allegra,seismo}!rlgvax!plunkett
================
The sky is falling!!! I have found something written by the plunkett
person with which I agree!

I'd go a little further even than Plunkett on this one.  Opinion polls,
even when accurate, can be used to drive opinion in directions where
factual analysis might not lead.
-- 

Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt