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Discussion – Sampling, Surveys, and Polls

Sampling, surveys, and polls are three of the ways in which data is gathered. The results are then presented as information. Some argue that surveys increase people’s awareness of a company’s products and thereby encourage future purchases. More subtle is the idea that the very process of asking people their opinions can induce them to form judgments that otherwise wouldn’t occur to them—that they really do like a company’s estate-planning services, for example. These so-called measurement-induced judgments, the theory holds, can influence later behavior. Remember, as a very granular level, a poll consists of  a single question, while a survey can use multiple questions and allow for more than  a single type of response. Reflect on these questions:
1. Why/How can the data collected in polls and surveys lead us to incorrect conclusions?
2. What impacts do you think polls and surveys have or have had on you? In other words, do you pay attention to either polls or surveys?
3. Do you think national polls impact peoples’ views on a topic?