First, let me make it clear that I think the Pew Research Center is one of the better (if not the best) poll taking organizations in existence. They are neutral and transparent in their practices while polling.
However, one of their recent polls reminded me of why I distrust all polls and have been known on the extremely rare occasion that a poll-taker actually talks to me on the phone to drive them to distraction.
This poll presents some overly-simplistic results about which occupations "contribute more to society's well-being". For example, not surprisingly the military rated fairly high, but this is a preordained, "apple pie and motherhood" type question phrased as generally as it is.
My question to the pollster in this case would be: "Are you talking about the people in the military, or the Pentagon, or the way the military is employed by the government?".
Likewise the conclusion about "journalists" -- I want to know "Are you talking about professional journalists working for established news organizations with codes of ethics and review and editing processes or just anyone with an ungrammatical and misspelled blog or web site that claims to be producing 'news'?".
I also think the answers for engineers would be considerably different if it was phrased as "people who design the roads, buildings, bridges and tunnels you use every day" or even "they keep the electricity coming to your house", or "they design the iPhone", or even "they make sure that clean water comes out of the tap and you can flush it when you are done with it" than just "engineers".
Get my point about polls? Life is more complex than any poll currently used...and thinkers should be given OPTIONS!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to comment, but keep it on topic, factual, and please show some thought. Anything else will be deleted.
Anonymous comments are also deleted, unread unless you notify me in advance of your pseudonym and give me verifiable contact information.