Saturday, December 1, 2012

Polls to Create Results


Before you believe a political, business or scientific poll, ask yourself: Who pays or sponsors it? That can affect the results.

The samples can be selected to give different results. Questions can be posed to produce preferred answers. Demographics can be altered to assure outcomes. And of course, interpretations can be subjective.

Sponsorship, for that matter, can also influence the results of research. The Food and Drug Administration carries on quite a bit about that. (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)

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