A Journalist'S Guide To Public Opinion Polls Hardcover

Sheldon R. Gawiser

This straightforward text provides journalists, both professional and student, with an explanation of the realities of an increasingly important facet of today's precision journalism--public opinion polling. The work aims to provide the skills necessary for evaluating and interpreting survey results accurately. After a brief review of the historical relationship between the press and public opinion, the authors examine the polling environment today. Then, step-by-step, they take the reader through the basics of journalistic uses of public opinion surveys and the questions to be asked by the journalist in evaluating a survey: who did the poll; who sponsored the poll; what were the survey questions and how were they worded; what is the sampling error; how to report poll results; how to put survey figures in context; and how to make and evaluate projections based upon polls. In addition, the text offers a review of statistical methods for the journalist and a 20 question checklist.

9780275947224

English

Praeger

21-Oct-94

192

SHELDON R. GAWISER is senior poll analyst for NBC News and president of the National Council on Public Polls. He is president of Gawiser Associates, Inc. of Fairfield, Connecticut, consultants in information collection and management. G. EVANS WITT is assistant bureau chief of the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. He previously served as director of AP/NBC News polling.