PO225 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Sampling Frame, Uptodate, Response Bias
Document Summary
Public opinion takes us to the very heart of self rule. Sources of public opinion: public opinion is simply the sum of individual beliefs and opinions. Americans are more churched, more economically liberal and more democratic. Hispanics tend to be socially conservative: religion religion shapes public opinion on major value questions. White evangelicals vote strongly republican, catholic voters tend to be split, black. Protestants, latino catholics, jews and muslims all trend decidedly democratic. The random sample: pollsters select a random selection of individuals who reflect the entire population, all people should have an equal chance of being interviewed, otherwise your results will be misleading. Sampling frame: professional pollsters are careful to construct an accurate sampling frame the type of people they plan to survey. If a poll is to accurately reflect public views, your survey respondents must reflect the population: a good representative survey includes demographic groups in rough proportion to their presence in the population.
