Polls and Surveys

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Two experts on designing questionnaires and surveys attempt to bring the average reader to an understanding of the ins and outs of polling. Bradburn is provost of the Univ. of Chicago, while Sudman is a professor at the Survey Research Laboratory at the Univ. of Illinois. The authors offer valuable advice on how to separate the wheat from the chaff in poll results. They take the reader back to the early history of polling (which, despite some evidence of 19th-century polling, really began in 1935, thanks to George Gallup), then discuss the uses and abuses of polls, determining that the main justification for polling is to buttress decisions and policies. Unfortunately, they find that polls have too often been used for propaganda purposes, and by news organizations to determine who is leading in elections - which often tends to skew results among voters who are influenced by polls. The authors don't suggest that polls be banned: "Banning the polls would simply return us to the time when the same predictions were made, but with much less accuracy." Rather, they suggest that election methods be revised to avoid, say, the problem of East Coast polls affecting West Coast voters on election nights. In general, the authors paint a rosy picture of polling and look to a healthy future enhanced by new electronic techniques. Their conclusion is made somewhat suspect, however, by their supporting statement that, as a result of polls, "special interests have a less significant role than they did fifty years ago. . ." Many would argue that point, while recognizing the overall value of this volume as a guide to lay readers. (Kirkus Reviews)