Open-access poll
An open-access poll is a type of
The most common examples of open-access polls ask people to phone a number, click a voting option on a
Advantages and disadvantages
Since participants in an open-access poll are volunteers rather than a
Because no sampling frame is used to draw the sample of participants, open-access polls may not have participants that represent the larger population. Indeed, they may be composed simply of individuals who happen to hear about the poll. As a consequence, the results of the poll cannot be generalized, but are only representative of the participants of the poll.
One example of an error produced by an open access-poll was one taken by
A way to minimize that bias is to weigh the results in order to make them more representative of the overall population. This does not make the results of the poll completely representative of the population but it does help increase the chances of the results representing the overall population.
Online poll
An online poll is a survey in which participants communicate responses via the Internet, typically by completing a questionnaire in a web page. Online polls may allow anyone to participate, or they may be restricted to a sample drawn from a larger panel. The use of online panels has become increasingly popular and is now the single biggest research method in Australia.[3]
Proponents of scientific online polling state that in practice their results are no less reliable than traditional polls, and that the problems faced by traditional polling, such as inadequate data for quota design and poor response rates for phone polls, can also lead to systemic bias.[4][5] Some others express the hope that careful choice of a panel of possible respondents may allow online polling to become a useful tool of analysis, but feel that this is rarely the case.[6]
Voodoo poll
A voodoo poll (or pseudo-poll) is a pejorative description of an opinion poll with no statistical or scientific reliability, which is therefore not a good indicator of opinion on an issue. A voodoo poll will tend to involve
The term was coined by Sir
See also
- Push poll
- Biased sample
- Social polling
- Voxpop
- Urtak
References
- ^ Bryson, Maurice C. ‘The Literary Digest Poll: Making of a Statistical Myth’ The American Statistician, 30(4):November 1976
- ^ Squire, Peverill “Why the 1936 Literary Digest Poll Failed” Public Opinion Quarterly, 52:125–133 1988
- ^ Kerry Sunderland (October 2007). "Push for online poll-arises opinions... or does it?". Research News. Australian Market and Social Research Society. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
- ^ Peter Kellner, "Can online polls produce accurate findings?", International Journal of Market Research, Volume 46, Issue 1, Pages 3 - 22, 2004
- ^ Humphrey Taylor (2007-01-15). "The Case For Publishing (Some) Online Polls". The Polling Report. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
- doi:10.1002/mar.10050. Archived from the originalon 2012-12-11.
- ^ Watt, Nicholas (2006-01-05). "Eurosceptic party admits rigging BBC poll". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ "Hunting ban tops 'unpopular' poll". BBC News. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ Anthony Wells (May 24, 2009). Voodoo polling corner. UK Polling Report blog. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
External links
- www.doubletongued.org's source for attributing "voodoo poll" definition to Sir Bob Worcester
- Uses of "voodoo poll" in the media over past 15 years
- Example of a voodoo poll on public opinion on proposed anti-terror legislation in Britain on BBC Website
- [1] Reference to voodoo poll in academic article, page 11 of 31
- You can make groups, create poll for election and voting