The Survey Says...

I’m certainly not a big fan of “a recent poll shows.” There are a whole lot of inherent pitfalls in a process wherein only a sampling of individuals are even asked a set of questions, and quite often the questions are phrased in such a manner that “lead” responders to answer certain ways, or not at all. Furthermore how can you determine the statistical probability of a whole town, state or country based solely on the opinions of a handful of people who at one particular moment in time were willing to answer the questions put to them by a stranger on the other end of a telephone receiver? (Incidentally my home phone goes directly to the answering machine – voice mail – so I wouldn’t even take a call like that in the first place.) Still, someone at a calculator would determine that I’d fall into some statistical category because…why?

Now the fact that surveys and polls are big news makers can’t be denied. For example here is only a sampling of the headlines I read in one sitting regarding what Americans think. (These aren’t in any particular order, by the way.) A) Study Finds World’s Youth More Religious than Believed. B) Less than 1% of Young Americans Hold a Biblical Worldview. C) Survey Finds Younger Generation More Prone to Immoral Behavior. D) Non-Religious Americans on the Rise in Every State. E) Americans' Belief in God Nears 90% in Recent Poll.

Do you see how misleading each of these headlines is? And yet we can all check the calculations and math used to arrive at the conclusion that they have done their ciphering correctly…it’s just the minuscule sampling and manner used to collect the data that drives these number assessments with which I really have a problem. It’s certainly an alarming condition in today’s world to learn that the words “a survey shows” (although perhaps a great premise for a game show) is considered to be on the same level as proven fact.

Now here’s something you have to consider when it comes to why these polls are even taken…somebody makes money in the transaction. Don’t think that George Gallup, George Barna or even Curious George do these surveys to satisfy a personal intrigue with the issue. Somebody has to pay the employees and the utility bills and herein enters that derivation of the “golden rule” (the man with the gold makes the rules). Also, you’ll typically find that these blanket surveys are utilized by the polling groups to bolster subscription sales of their other products and services. (If you liked this survey, wait until you get your hands on several others we also provide for a small monthly fee. We also have a nice selection of books for sale as well.) Granted everybody, in one form or another, comes back around to having to pay the bills, but there are some reasonable doubts that can be raised regarding any solely altruistic function of polling operations.

I’m not suggesting that the results of a survey are skewed necessarily to arrive at a particular end result, but there is something to be said for the adage that there are small lies, big lies and then statistics. If collected data has only asked a question in a manner that elicits certain responses…then you aren’t really asking what a person thinks, you’ve asked how would they respond to…(and you can fill in the blank). Then when it comes to assessing the amassed data, we’re right back to allowing a small group of individuals to interpret what any of it all means.

My greatest concern is that readers of these polls often don’t employ critical thinking into assessing this polling material. I’d think one question that certainly bears asking is, “Who stands to make a buck off of this information?” Another issue to address is, “Why was this particular question, of all the questions that could be asked, the hot topic for this survey?” And finally, “Why did this particular survey topic make it into today’s headlines?” By employing a smattering of scrutiny toward polling figures you’ll find that, although the subjects may be interesting – even entertaining – they are far from being a true reflection of anything that really matters when it comes to engaging people one on one. That takes interest, involvement and an interchange of ideas.

Ever yours regardlessly,
mike