Are The Surveys Flawed?
I was reading a recent article from Businessmirror and this part got my attention
These sectors are coming around to the view that our local pollsters are doing a great disservice to the public and to the social-science profession by using flawed, even long-discarded, methods in their determination of public opinion, and then issuing the polling results in a skewed, helter-skelter way, without as much as offering the obligatory caveats about their work. They are also being taken to task for their adroit (some suggest deceptive) “marketing” operations as they actively promote their “studies” and seek “sponsors” (subscribers is how these firms call them) to cover the costs of their operations.
Hmm…some really strong point there. I guess these are the times when a few people would like to be associated with these survey companies. Anyway, going back to the article, it also stated that Sen Kit Tatad was a victim of a flawed survey result.
… has actively sought greater transparency and accountability on the part of SWS and Pulse Asia. In our regular Kapihan sa Sulô forum last Saturday, Tatad asked that these firms refrain from surveying and purveying the results in the meantime until they can clear themselves, as it were, from past mistakes and indiscretions. Said Tatad: “SWS should first explain its fatally flawed exit poll of the 2004 elections in Metro Manila before it conducts yet another opinion poll related to the May 10 elections”.
The story goes on with mentioning of a specific example regarding the results of the last election between Arroyo and Fernando Poe. Survey says that Arroyo got 31% while FPJ got 23% of votes in Metro Manila. After the official Comelec figures came out, it was FPJ who won in Metro Manila with 36% while Arroyo got 26.46%.
I also learned form that article that there’ is this book called “The Opinion Makers” where Moore concluded that pollsters “do not measure public opinion, they manufacture it.” He anchors this contention on the practice of polling firms to gloss over “voter indecision” during an election campaign.
Here’s the cover of the book “The Opinion Makers”
Here’s what Publisher Weekly said about it…
Moore argues that today’s polls report the whims rather than the will of the people due to an intrinsic methodological problem: poll results don’t differentiate between those who express deeply held views and those who have hardly, if at all, thought about an issue. Thus, respondents are compelled to provide an ill-considered, top-of-mind response because the method does not offer the option of expressing no opinion. In Moore’s view, forced-choice polls not only distort public opinion, they create a legitimacy spin cycle, which damages U.S. democracy by manufacturing a public consensus to serve those in power.
So I guess this does not only happens in the Philippines but in all sorts of political polls. The sad part is that, I think this is happening again in this 2010 elections.
I just hope people will not be swayed by these surveys and still vote whatever they feel is the right candidate for them.
2 Responses to “Are The Surveys Flawed?”
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i think surveys are made to set those other peoples mind so that they will kept on thinking that this particular politician will win and there is no choice but to choose him…..sad…i hope people should do some research about those politicians and vote wisely
an resulta ng survey ay hindi dapat tlga gwing basehan pwede dun s lugar n un malakas ang isang politiko pwede din mahina pwede din dinaya n lng o tinamad un mga nag susurvey