Class #1: Polls and Samples

Online Reading

• " State of the Union: Ambivalence." Wall Street Journal, 14 December 2000.

Homework

1. Locate ready sources of news (Where do newspapers collect in your dorm? Bookmark your favorite news links on the web. Explore the electronic links from the library.) Keep your eyes open for polls and datagraphics, and be thinking about possible projects.
   

2. Looking back at the "Unusual Episode" data with the benefit of hindsight, identify as many clues as you can that identify the actual cause, or rule out some of the others that were proposed.
   

3. Start reading Concepts and Controversies on Polls and Sampling, Chapters 1-4. Next time I will assign some problems based on this material. Here are some web links identified in the reading:
   • Gallup Poll
   • Current Population Survey
   • Nielsen Media Research
   • General Social Survey
   I agree with Moore's assessment of the Gallup site--it has excellent explanations of polling methodology. Here is another site with interesting polling analysis:
   • The Pew Research Center for People and the Press.