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| How Not To Construct A Poll | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 5 2010, 01:53 AM (78 Views) | |
| Post #1 Mar 5 2010, 01:53 AM | Bonzolee |
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Visit this site for a quick sample: http://news1.newsmax.com/obama-healthcare/?PROMO_CODE=93F3-1&gclid=CPed1uWHoaACFctx5QodH3XAaQ See? This poll, as far as fairness goes, is atrocious and embarrassing. There are ways in which you can construct a neutral poll, and there are ways in which you can construct a poll that "directs" the taker to the "correct" choice for propaganda purposes. And perhaps that's not even the largest danger, here! Do you know what becomes of most petitions people sign? If you guessed "absolutely nothing" or "garbage", then you are correct! Petitions are proven to make people who sign them act more in harmony with the position of said petition. How? When one does such a thing, one's "self-image" changes. That's the real power behind petitions. Apply that to a poll. Basically, you learn no new facts or points of view– the one thing you do do is more strongly commit yourself to what you already believed, based upon the direction the poll leans. So, the poll in and of itself is a degree of propaganda. The people behind VALS (a powerful, modern marketing method) found that, at the time the research was done, people liked filling out psychological surveys because they felt they were able to learn things about their inner self. These surveys were ultimately used to sell these same people goods they didn't really need by assigning different sets of values to products, so that when a consumer purchases a product they're not only purchasing a good, but the value associated with that good. And different "psychological types" are driven to purchase things by different values. Through this, companies can help people express themselves, be themselves, by selling them goods that have been assigned values. In this way, you can literally purchase an identity. They even got the hippies to buy shit! Quick Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VALS Just a little marketing history. I know I got way off topic, but I sort of stumbled into the marketing area back there and decided to talk about it. Surveys, petitions, polls– they all work, in psychological terms, in a similar fashion on the unconscious mind. Though the VALS survey was a scientific survey to learn about consumers, where as the poll I linked to earlier is designed only to function as a propaganda piece. But even if a poll or survey is not scientific, it can get people to think of themselves in new – or stronger – ways. Anyway, the advertisement for the poll I linked to was heavily anti-Obama: I only clicked on it to review the neutrality of the poll. So, it will draw in mostly anti-Obama people, and the poll "helps" people find the "correct" answer, which is also anti-Obama. Now, that's what I call working double duty! It works as propaganda in two different ways: both as the results of the poll, which will be presented to the public, and the poll itself. The people who fill out that poll will probably act in a manner that is more rabid and passionate, yet this was triggered not by new knowledge or an independent thought process, but by psychological trickery. It succeeded in strengthening their self-image– but only in an empty way devoid of all meaning and significance. Sorry... I just have a need to call people out on their bullshit when I see it. Oh... and it would be wise to eschew all polls, surveys, and petitions, as you can never predict the type of psychological impact they may have. And that includes the scientific ones as well. Unless you know exactly what you're dealing with, I wouldn't take it. |
 
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"Brain disorders, like madness, are themselves contagious. The frequency of madness among doctors who are specialists for the mad is notorious." – Gustave Le Bon "The fact that audiences would rather go to Wonderland than face Iraq speaks volumes." – Random Youtube Poster | |
 
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4:35 PM Jul 31
