A Journalist's Guide to Public Opinion Polls (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780275949891)

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.

Author: Sheldon R. Gawiser, G. Evans Witt
ISBN-10: 0275949893
ISBN-13: 9780275949891
Publisher: Praeger
Language: English
Published: 10/30/1994
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.41d