The Idea of Inefficiencies in Polling (Reality or Construction)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Prof. In Sociology, Allameh Tabataba’i Uni.

Abstract
This article, while approving the ability of polling to find out public opinion, attempted to examine the areas of “ineffectiveness of polling” at three levels of citizens, polling institutes, and officials. The main idea of the paper is that "ineffectiveness of polling" is the result of the constructing various factors that each of them are trying to promote, rather than based on the actual results of the polls. In polling institutes, some individuals and institutions attribute their failure to the analysis of polls whereas it is due to weak sociological vision and lack of commitment to scientific and organizational standards. In organizations that use poll results, some executives, who realize their power and benefits by ignoring people's voices, try to reduce the validity, importance, and impact of surveys by appealing to the ideology of professionalism and unprofessionalizing poll findings. In other words, some individuals and groups, with different motivations, have an interest in promoting the "idea of ineffectiveness of polling " in different domains, and are trying to make this point by reducing the "public credibility" of polls to "scientific credibility", and doubting the scientific credibility of the polls.

Keywords

Subjects

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  • Receive Date 14 April 2018
  • Revise Date 28 April 2018
  • Accept Date 13 June 2018