The Sunday New York Times had a very readable and interesting article about standards for polls and reporting of statistics. You can read it on the NYT site here or in this blog's archives here.
What I love about polls is the way they ask ambiguous questions whose answers can be spun in any direction. For example, during the Monicagate affair, some news program had a y/n poll with the question, "Do you think the media has handled this story correctly?" The answer could mean anything! I could have said "No," because I think the media wass too easy on Bill, or I could say, "No," because I think the media was too hard on Bill! Amazing!
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What I love about polls is the way they ask ambiguous questions whose answers can be spun in any direction. For example, during the Monicagate affair, some news program had a y/n poll with the question, "Do you think the media has handled this story correctly?" The answer could mean anything! I could have said "No," because I think the media wass too easy on Bill, or I could say, "No," because I think the media was too hard on Bill! Amazing!
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