Polls and Surveys

Explains how polls are conducted, describes the causes of polling errors, and discusses how polls are used and interpreted.

1. Polling the Public: Purpose and Process

2. Growth of Public Opinion Polling

3. Proper and Improper Uses of Surveys

4. The Organizations That Do the Polling

5. How Information Is Collected

6. How Respondents are Selected

7. Asking the Question: How Wording Affects Response

8. What Do the Answers Mean?

9. Understanding Sources of Error

10. Should Polls Be Banned?

11. Effects of Polls on Elections, Governments, Business, and Media

Glossary

References

Index

NORMAN M. BRADBURN is senior vice president for National Opinion Research. He is the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service professor in the department of psychology and the Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago.

SEYMOUR SUDMAN is a Walter H. Stellner Distinguished Professor of Marketing and deputy director and research professor at the Survey Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of seventeen books including Asking Questions (Jossey-Bass, 1982) which he wrote with Norman M. Bradburn.