Pollster gets the public to ask the questions

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.

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

1 Comment

Brian LoCicero

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.

Like Report

Display name

Email

Join the discussion


Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts