Statistics at the polls

 Find and critique the reporting of a poll by the current media. You will find polls published almost daily on news sites and magazine sites, and you can choose any poll that captures your interest. Remember to attach or link to the source in your response. Based on your critique, do you believe the results of your poll? Is it compelling? You may use the following questions found in the book Statistics: Concepts and Controversies by David S. Moore and William I. Notz (p. 41) to aid you in critiquing your poll. These questions aren’t necessarily meant to be answered individually, but rather provide a general guide for you to think about as you evaluate your poll. Who carried out the survey? Does the source of the survey lead you to question the results of the poll? Why or why not? What was the population? Whose opinions were being sought? Does this seem like an appropriate population based on the question? How was the sample selected? Was random sampling used? How large was the sample? Can you figure out the margin of error based on the sample size reported? How does this aid in your interpretation? What was the response rate? What percentage of the original subjects actually provided information? How were the subjects contacted? By telephone? Mail? Face-to-face interview? When was the survey conducted? Was it after some event that might have influenced opinion? What were the exact questions asked? Does the poll give you this information? If you can’t answer some of these questions based on the source reporting the poll, how does this influence your interpretation of the results? In all cases, be sure to draw on class readings, lecture, and assignments as you provide an original, clear, and concise response to the application assignment prompt.