Political Science 362
1. What are some of the reasons that an understanding of what can and what cannot be inferred from political polls has practical importance? What has happened to the attention paid by the public to poll results since 1944?
2. What is a survey population? What are the three different populations that are frequently polled in political surveys? What is a sample? When is a sample said to be representative? What is a probability sample? What is the confidence level of a survey? What is sampling error? How does sampling error relate to sample size? Which is more important, sample size or population size, in determining the accuracy of a sample? Why should one be especially concerned about the size of subsamples when judging the accuracy of a poll?
3. Give the four fundamental defects of the Literary Digest’s sampling procedure. What is the problem of self-selection on a survey? Give two defects of Gallup’s sampling procedures in 1948. What is a quota sample?
4. What is a simple random sample? What is a systematic sample? What is a multistage cluster sample? Explain how a multistage cluster sample is drawn. What is a primary sampling unit (PSU)? How many PSUs are drawn in a typical national survey? How does the sampling error of a cluster sample differ from that of a simple random sample?
5. What are the advantages of a telephone survey? What are its disadvantages? Discuss random-digit-dialing. What is the estimated response rate for professionally drawn telephone surveys according to the text? How does this compare to professionally drawn Internet surveys? Where are 43 percent of homes without telephones located?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of robotic polls? How about Internet polls?
7. What is the problem of multiple stimuli in a sample survey? What’s a question order effect? What is a double-barreled question? What is a framing effect on a question? What is the importance of a balanced question? According to the authors, what is the problem of using a single agree-disagree question in a survey? What is the problem with offering the middle position on an issue? Is there consensus about what should be done about offering the middle position? What is response acquiescence? What is a filter question? What is the problem with stating a question in the negative? Discuss open-ended and closed-ended questions.
8. Discuss question wording experiments and why they’re easier to conduct today than in the past.
9. Discuss the biases of mail sent to politicians. How about mail surveys sent by politicians to their constituents? Discuss modern straw polls and their problems.
10. Give some reasons for the inconsistent results of pre-election polls.
11. What is an exit poll? What was the VNS and why was it dissolved? What replaced it? Discuss the controversy over early projections of election results by the television media.