Archive for July, 2004
Chapter 8: Making Good Use of Numerical and Commonly-Used Word Scales
Chapter 8: Making Good Use of Numerical and Commonly-Used Word Scales By Alan F. Kay, PhD © 2004, (fair use with attribution and copy to author) July 26, 2004 If a pollster asks, "On a scale of one to 10, how do you feel about Bill Gates?", he gets some lively answers, like: "He is [...]
Chapter 7: Down Boy? No — Give the People a Break
Chapter 7: Down Boy? No — Give the People a Break By Alan F. Kay, PhD © 2004, (fair use with attribution and copy to author) July 22, 2004 The poll results that the media show us in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio are supplied by big-time commercial pollsters. With their six-figure incomes, [...]
Chapter 6: Fair Response Choices – Equal Weight and Coherence
Chapter 6: Fair Response Choices – Equal Weight and Coherence By Alan F. Kay, PhD © 2004, (fair use with attribution and copy to author) July 13, 2004 In Chapter 2, we saw how complex and unusable the full response could be to a single either-or question of the type "Favor A or B?" A very wise, [...]
Chapter 5: Three Easy Ways to Spot Spin
Chapter 5: Three Easy Ways to Spot Spin By Alan F. Kay, PhD © 2004, (fair use with attribution and copy to author) July 9, 2004 A little explanation of how polling works will lead us into easy ways to spot spin. Regardless of the question, some people will give a "non-substantive" answer, called a "DK" in Chapter 2. They may say, "I'm [...]
