How do pollsters try to insure accuracy in poll results? How can the wording of a question make a difference?

Question

By pollster I mean the person who distributes and processed the polls.

Answer 1

Pollsters, by and large, DO NOT try to ensure accuracy. They try to word the questions so that the person paying for the poll gets the answers they were looking for.

Answer 2

You have asked one heck of a complicated question! Pollsters need to keep track of the accuracy of results received and results recorded. There will always be some error.

First the mean, median, and the mode are calculated. The mean is the average. The median is the point at which exactly half the values are above this point and half the values are below this point. The mode is the most commonly ocurring value. These three values may or may not be the same.

Next, the standard deviation is calculated. This measures how far above or below the average a single value can be and still be considered "normal" or within tolerance. A value is not considered significant unless it is more than two standard deviations away from the average.

If a poll asks a question where the answer is Yes or No, then statistically half the answers should be yes and half No. Let's say 100 people are asked the question and the standard deviation is calculated as 7%. That would make the normal range between 36% and 64%. If 60% of the people answer Yes and 40% of the people answer No, the difference is not statistically significant since the numbers are both in the normal range. The answers are considered the equivalent of random chance. This is an exaggerated example to give you an idea of how it works.

How can the wording make a difference? What if a person doesn't belive any of the answers provided? What if someone is asked what their favorite color is and given the choice of Blue, Red, or Yellow. What if the person's favorite color is actually Green? It isn't one of the choices. Often, pollsters will ask questions with few choices and then tell respondents to choose the closest answer. The closest answer may not be exactly correct and therefor skews the results.

Like I said, You have asked one heck of a complicated question.

Answer 3

the majority of the pollsters (and that includes all the major ones) do try to insure their polls are accurate.

there are several inherent faults with any kind of poll-taking.

many poll-taker want their polls to reflect a certain slant or twist so they look good or to please those who commissioned the polls.

too often the questions ARE worded to give this slant.

here is a simple example of what just adding a simple comma can do to a question:

"how's your whole family?"
"how's your whole, family?

((yes, i know the spelling is wrong, but that is not the point))

Answer 4

There are hundreds of thousands of PR firms that employ "professional pollsters" to answer polls. I never take any of them seriously. Even if they are conducive to my personal opinion.

Answer 5

They don't. They try to make the poll appear how they feel they will make the most money.

Answer 6

Its all BS. Only one poll counts.