Gawiser, Sheldon R. : National Council on Public Polls.
Gawiser, is senior poll analyst for NBC News and president of the National Council on Public Polls.
Witt, G. Evans : Associated Press in Washington, D.C.
Witt, is assistant bureau chief of the Associated Press in Washington, D.C.
Summary
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.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Walter Mears
Acknowledgments
The Opinion Triangle
The Press and Public Opinion: Always Linked
A Brief History of Polls
The Emergence of Precision Journalism
The Polling Environment Today
The Poll: Who Did?
The Poll: Who Sponsored It?
The Poll: Sampling
The Poll: The Questions
The Poll: Timing Is Everything
The Poll: Sampling Error
The Poll: Other Sources of Error
Pseudo-Polls and SLOPS
Reporting Polls: The Basics
Reporting Polls: Numbers in Context
Reporting Polls: Political Surveys
Reporting Polls: Exit Polls and Projections
The Future
Appendix A: The World's Shortest Course in Statistics
Appendix B: Twenty Questions
Bibliography
Index
