"I just got us another awesome guest speaker!" said Professor Lowe. I could see his eyes light up as he announced the conductor of the Marquette Law School Poll Professor Charles Franklin would be visiting our politics in journalism seminar. I sighed. Polls? What could be so interesting about polls? I thought I got into journalism to stay away from math and numbers. However, after reading some background material about Professor Franklin and the polling process, I realized polling is actually pretty interesting.
The first important step in changing my mind about the excitement of polling was by familiarizing myself with acceptable polling standards. The biggest takeaway from reading about polling regulations was to always scrutinize and analyze how information was obtained. Questions can be leading, samples can be biased and there are a lot of loopholes that can make a study seem reliable at first glace.
I have already watched the On the Issues: Marquette Law School Poll video in class, but it had a lot of numbers and percentages to decipher in a short amount of time. I found this website very helpful in breaking down the results of the Law School Poll. The poll covers a lot of topics such as Walker's Recall Election, the John Doe scandal, the next President of the United States and Wisconsin's employment rates.
By researching the polling process prior to his visit, I am much more excited to meet Professor Franklin. It will be interesting to hear about any challenges he faced while polling and any advice he has for journalists working with polls and other data.
The first important step in changing my mind about the excitement of polling was by familiarizing myself with acceptable polling standards. The biggest takeaway from reading about polling regulations was to always scrutinize and analyze how information was obtained. Questions can be leading, samples can be biased and there are a lot of loopholes that can make a study seem reliable at first glace.
I have already watched the On the Issues: Marquette Law School Poll video in class, but it had a lot of numbers and percentages to decipher in a short amount of time. I found this website very helpful in breaking down the results of the Law School Poll. The poll covers a lot of topics such as Walker's Recall Election, the John Doe scandal, the next President of the United States and Wisconsin's employment rates.
By researching the polling process prior to his visit, I am much more excited to meet Professor Franklin. It will be interesting to hear about any challenges he faced while polling and any advice he has for journalists working with polls and other data.