Polls: Random Representative Sampling

Having a large sample size in a survey does not assure accurate statistics. What really matters is the sample diversity. For example: you wanted to find out how many of your workmates watch football, it would be foolish to only survey the men in your office and assume that the statistic applies for all the company’s employees. In order to get accurate statistics, you would have to expand the survey to include the female employees and the workers in other company offices.

In the example above, the survey needed not only to be expanded but diversified. By including the women and other workers, you make the statistics more accurate because it represents the TV watching habits of ALL the company’s employees. However, if the company is very large, it would be difficult to interview every single employee. The solution to this problem is called random representative sampling.

Random representative sampling is a method of sampling that uses random selection to obtain its samples. By making sure that everybody has an equal chance at being selected, random representative sampling ensures diverse samples. Using the example in paragraph one, a random representative sample allows you find the statistics on all the company’s employees without interviewing all them. Random representative sampling is important for getting accurate poll results because it allows you to find the view of a population while making sure that the poll is not biased in any way.

Part 2

1. Does the question posed by the pollster meet the standards for a good question? Why or why not? The question posed by the pollster is a poor question because the “right thing” means something different to each person.

2. What are the facts collected and presented by the poll...

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...onducted by Gallup in this article are well designed and representative of the entire voting population. However, there is always room for improvement, and I am confident that the polls are becoming more and more accurate every day. It is very important that polls are as accurate as possible because people trust polls, basing their views and reports on them.

Works Cited Page

Part 1: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampprob.php

Part 2: http://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=0030677025

Part 3: http://www.pollingreport.com/politics.htm

Part 4: www.gallup.com