Word: polled
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...procedure followed in administering the poll was aimed at eliminating this particular kind of objection. First, questions were phrased so that they did not evoke a radical response any more than a conservative one. Second, the poll was handed out in House dining halls during lunch and dinner of three consecutive days in mid-December. Each student, as he entered the dining hall, was asked whether or not he was a senior. If he said that he was, he was handed a poll and asked to fill it out. Only about ten or fifteen seniors refused to take the poll...
...then why did only 43 per cent of the class answer the poll, if all of the Houses were covered for three days? To begin with, not all the seniors eat in the Houses. Furthermore, some of them had already left for Christmas vacation. But most importantly, only one of the entrances into the dining hall was covered in each House...
...fairness it is possible that pollsters became tired of asking everyone who walked into the dining halls whether he was a senior (it is extremely embarrassing to ask a tutor if he is a senior), and the poll may be a little more selective than the above would indicate. But not much...
...second main objection to the poll is more obvious. Percentages given were not of the total number of people who answered the poll, but of a slightly smaller number who answered the question being referred to. This should explain what appeared to be numerical miscalculations of about one per cent...
...retrospect, the CRIMSON article should have been more explicit about procedures and we thank our many careful readers for having pointed out the shortcomings of the poll's explication...