I like polls. I think they're fun and sometimes funny. So I decided to make a poll palace. =) Every week I'll change the poll && then you can discuss what you want about THAT subject.
Current Subject: Polls, what do you think? hm?
1: Do you like polls?X
Total Votes: 17
Answers...
# of Votes || Percentage || Answer
2 || 11.76% || Yes.
0 || 0% || No.
2 || 11.76% || POLL!
6 || 35.29% || *votes incorrectly to throw people off*
2 || 11.76% || Stupid Option. =D
2 || 11.76% || <(^.^)>
0 || 0% || What I don't like is your question.
0 || 0% || *they're all totally pointless*
1 || 5.88% || DIE POLL!
2 || 11.76% || None of the Above.
I think if polls are used correctly they can be accurate but I think that also polls can be very prone to a researcher's bias. For example if it is a poll collecting data on a certain subject and the researcher only allows for so many options however he skews the options in a way that are favourable to what he is looking for/wants.
Also pollers (is that a word?) can be influence by want others have already answered and such, so the answers in a poll may not be necessarily honest and authentic.
Nicely put Wynna. Personally I find polls better for opinions than actual statistics. people are less likely to lie about something they feel strongly about rather than how old they are or their relationship status. But that's just my opinion.
Ehhhh. Of course there's a huge number of potential problems: your results are going to be skewed from the get-go because not everyone will be willing to take the poll, and if it's about a specific topic, people with strong opinions will be more likely to bother answering it.
If you ask in person, people may change their answers out of fear that the poller will be judging them. If you let people online see what others have answered, they might change their own answer so it won't (or will) stand out. And it's easy to write bias into the questions, especially if they're multiple-choice.
But in the end, there's really no better way to get opinion data.
@ Robard, what if they did open ended questions for collecting data? Like, give your thought, opinions, ideas, etc...on a certain topic? It does require a lot of sifting through answers and sometimes you won't get the answers that you are looking for, but I think if data is collected that way at least it will be honest and not influence by the researcher/collector or the survey itself.
I think I may make a min of 20 voters per poll.... right now there is 13...
ANYWAY.
I figure yes or no or no answer questions are the best. You can't really go fishing for answers. really the only problem there would be is if you had a badly phrased question. For example...
The Question: Have you stopped beating your wife?
Yes (Indicating that at one time you DID beat your wife)
No (Indicating that you still beat your wife)
@Wynna: Ah, yes, my post was focused rather heavily on the negatives.
It's definitely possible to get solid (if never perfect) data, if you write, conduct, and analyze the poll with that as your intention. I think I was just feeling a bit pessimistic about the proportion of popular polls that put in the work to remove bias.
@hayzel: Yeah, the simplicity of Y/N questions is great. The responses are so much easier to quantify...
You miss out on a lot of interesting information if you ask only those, though. If you found someone willing to admit to socially unacceptable behavior, you'd still want to know about frequency, context, and so on. And with opinion questions like "Do you believe that [government action] was a good idea?" a yes or no answer might be too simple to reflect someone's thoughts.
And bias is still possible, especially when dealing with behavior or opinions that might be socially unacceptable: you've got to find a way to make someone feel safe answering honestly/feel safe telling you that they can't answer. And you have to make sure that you're asking the right questions in the first place, since Y/N questions have to be pretty specific. If we stay with the example of domestic abuse--someone may tell you honestly whether or not they beat their wife, but you'll still miss out on information about verbal abuse.
Yay! I like polls. It's interesting to me to see what people think about things. I picked for "*votes incorrectly to throw people off*" cuz I liked it, but I do enjoy polls. They're informative or funny or totally random but it's fun to put your opinion out there! Can't wait for next week!!! :D
@ Kaze, I did not. That's really interesting, I guess a lot of people and companies use statistics incorrectly (such as making them up) to prove a point, or to sell a product. I'm starting statistics this week so it will be interesting learning about them..well I hope it will be. :)
I like polls so I voted Yes. I think it's pretty interesting how the most picked option is "*votes incorrectly to throw people off*" LOL. Tells you something about people, maybe?
@ Kaze, I did not. That's really interesting, I guess a lot of people and companies use statistics incorrectly (such as making them up) to prove a point, or to sell a product. I'm starting statistics this week so it will be interesting learning about them..well I hope it will be.
yea I like polls, but It peeves me a little that most user created polls have some random selections that most people are going to pick to "be funny" and then how will you know if somebody likes something or not if most people vote on an answer like "I eat pies in australia with my spoon" its like ok 80% said they eat pie instead of saying yes or no to a question like "Do you like dogs?" >.>
yea I like polls, but It peeves me a little that most user created polls have some random selections that most people are going to pick to "be funny" and then how will you know if somebody likes something or not if most people vote on an answer like "I eat pies in australia with my spoon" its like ok 80% said they eat pie instead of saying yes or no to a question like "Do you like dogs?" >.>
I understand where your coming from. If it's a serious question, it should have serious answers. The poll I have up wasn't really meant to be a serious poll just a discussion starter.
But yes, if people have totally random answers to a not so random question it does annoy me.
