NEWS1 December 2009

Pollster gets the public to ask the questions

News North America

US— Members of the public are being invited to put their questions to the nation by submitting them for free to a new public opinion poll.

Las Vegas-based Precision Opinion has launched the Fearless Opinion poll, which will use a telephone RDD sample of US households to reach adults aged 18-65.

Company president Jim Medick said: “The surveys will be pretty darn spot on and will be a lot more interesting because the questions originate from the people not from a corner office.”

Medick told Research: “We do so many public opinion polls, and I can’t tell you how many functions or parties I go to and somebody says to me, ‘I want to ask a question,’ and, ‘Why do they do it that way?’ so I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to let people send in questions they want asked, and give the answers right back to them.”

The firm plans to field and publish results from the first survey before Christmas, and hopes to keep running polls on a weekly basis, with results appearing on the Fearless Opinion blog.

The agency will also be tracking the types of questions that are asked to get a sense of the “tone and temperament” of the public.

“Start thinking about your questions and send them in,” said Medick. “That way at your next party you can have your facts straight so your rants will be so much more effective – or not!”

Medick said he sees the poll as “a freebie to stimulate conversation” and there are no plans to commercialise it.

@RESEARCH LIVE

1 Comment

14 years ago

So....will there be researchers on hand to ensure that the public's questions are not blatantly biased, thus influencing those answers they can share at their next party? Nice idea but also a perfect opportunity to engage the public in our field of opinion research and teach them how to spot poorly executed/biased research. Also, to help them understand so that they respond to MR efforts in the future, addressing the industry plague we keep battling.

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