1. POLLS AND SURVEYS
What ARE they thinking?

2. POLLS AND SURVEYS Just one question Choose from several answers
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE DIFFERENCE???
POLLS SURVEYS
Just one question Choose from several answers
Several questions
More than one area of concern
The topic of the survey
Demographic information such as age, income, gender

3. THE PURPOSE OF POLLING Polls are used to gauge opinion about topics
Surveys are used to gauge satisfaction or opinion
Can be added to a story to help add relevance or context
Add another dimension to the story

4. REPORTING ON A POLL OR SURVEY
In order to report on a poll or survey accurately, keep these things in mind:
Was the poll objective?
Was it conducted by someone who has something to gain in the outcome? If so, the results are likely skewed and not accurate
Were the survey questions clear and accurate measures of what the survey intended to measure?
Were the questions phrased in a way to lead the participants to answer a certain way?

5. CONTINUED…. Things to keep in mind when reporting on a survey:
Were the questions clear?
Was there the social desirability effect? (participants try to answer a question the way they think they should answer)
Did the order of the questions skew the results? Priming: asking a question that incites emotion or personal interest and then asking for an opinion on an action; the first question LEADS them to answer to second one in such a way

6. CONTINUED…. Things to keep in mind when reporting on a survey:
Who participated?
Participants must represent the population they were drawn from
Representative samples are samples that represent the population from which participants were selected
Consider if it representative of gender, race and ethnicity, socio- economic status and grade level
THE NUMBERS MUST BE PRESENT IN THE SURVEY AS THEY ARE IN THE POPULATION

7. CONTINUED... Things to keep in mind when reporting on a survey:
Were there any problems with the poll?
Was it conducted awhile ago? It may no longer be representative of the population
Many voices are better than a few
Making sure there is proper representation is CRUCIAL

8. RECAP! COVER THESE BASES: Was the poll objective?
Were the questions clear?
Social desirability effect?
Was there priming?
Who participated?
Were there any problems with the poll?

9. DESIGNING YOUR SURVEY AND QUESTIONS
ASK IF YOUR QUESTIONS:
Measure what you want to find out
Use the clearest, most direct language you can
Lead the participants to certain answers They SHOULD NOT — the questions should be objective
Allow for a variety of questions
If the topic is complicated, make sure to break it apart and ask questions about each part

10. EXAMPLES OF GOOD SURVEY QUESTIONS
Opinions If you were to vote today, would you vote for student council president candidate A or candidate B?
Feelings What candidate do you believe gave the best speech: candidate A or candidate B?
Behaviors Did you volunteer for any student council campaigns?
Demographic data Gender, age, grade-level, race/ethnicity, income

11. PICKING THE RIGHT SAMPLE
SAMPLE = REPRESENTATION OF POPULATION DIRECTLY INFLUENCED BY ISSUE AT HAND
Sample should accurately represent the population you are interested in – specificity
Once you know the sample, make sure that everyone in the group has a chance of participating
Random sampling - draw names from hat, take a list an pick every “nth” name
You need to be 95% certain of your results

12. HOW TO BE 95% CERTAIN You’re going to have to do math… seriously
Not really… you can have this fabulous website do it for you
Seriously… don’t try it on your own
This calculator will figure the sample size for your population with an acceptable margin of error
95% certain = 19 times out of 20 you get the same results

13. POLLS AND SURVEYS
What ARE they thinking?

14. ANALYZING AND REPORTING
How we share shows we care...

15. ANALYZING THE RESULTS OF POLLS
The way you analyze depends on the way you polled:
If the answers are simple yes or no, agree or disagree, then you:
TABULATE and calculate a confidence interval (margin of error)
The handy calculator in the previous presentation can be used for this
If the participants selected from more than two choices and the survey was interested in relationships, more statistical measures are required

16. ANALYZING THE RESULTS
If it was an open-ended question, then look for words or phrases that repeat (codes) that represent themes, and then actual examples can be pulled from the pool of answers:
Codes
Themes
Examples

17. REPORTING YOUR FINDINGS:
Journalists must report two things from a survey/poll:
What the survey found
What implications it may have
Surveys and Polls can be used for:
Introducing an important issue
To help readers have a better understanding of the issue
To allow readers to explore how others in their community view the issue

18. REPORTING YOUR FINDINGS:
When reporting:
Keep results clear enough for the readers to understand
Keep it in context so that it doesn’t change the way the readers interpret the results
How to accomplish both? INFOGRAPHICS

19. ANALYZING AND REPORTING
How we share shows we care...