NCJ Number
124108
Journal
Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: 1990 Pages: 20-22
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
As the use of opinion polls becomes increasingly persuasive and as their influence grows, there is a need to understand their limits and dangers.
Abstract
Some of the most important issues are conceptual rather than empirical. Supporters often point out that public opinion polls are an example of a uniquely democratic technology. Surveys provide a way to tap public needs and concerns. Only organized interest groups would otherwise be heard, or there would be a dependence on a "best guess" of the public mood. Critics of opinion polls believe that at best they give only a partial glimpse and at the worst they give a distortion of the public view. Critics feel that survey methodology is ill-equipped to get at people's complex, nuanced, and shifting opinions and perceptions. They argue that surveys promote "quick fix" policy solutions. Critics believe that the proliferation of surveys has resulted in confusion between opinion and judgment informed by experience and research on what works. Asking open ended questions is more expensive, more difficult to code, quantify, compare and track over time. However, they allow the respondents to tell it their way. Closed questions tend to constrain respondents, limiting the capacity of surveys to uncover the unexpected. Large surveys may be able to take into account some of the key socio-demographic factors that differentiate the public, but they have their own shortcomings. The expense associated with them limits them to a few key factors; these techniques are rarely able to tackle the more subtle bases for opinion information. The value of the survey data is not simply a function of the sophistication of the methodology, but is also dependent on the skill, knowledge, and ingenuity of the researchers and particularly their understanding of the structure of the Canadian public. Another limit of surveys is the inability to tell whether the opinions that have been tapped reflect enduring attitudes, firmly held beliefs, top-of-the-mind views, or judgement based on experience or knowledge. For policy purposes this information is important. Opinion surveys are useful for ensuring that the policy process does not lose touch with the public that the policies aim to serve, and they are useful for getting some sense of the public's concerns and preferences. Surveys can help establish policy and communications objectives and priorities, but are not useful for developing specific policies and programs. 2 notes. (Publisher abstract modified)