An Experiment in Public-opinion Polling among Preliterate People

Africa ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Marwick
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Opinion Survey ◽  
Public Opinion Survey ◽  
Opinion Polling ◽  
The Social ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Social Anthropologist

Opening ParagraphTowards the end of 1947 I carried out a public-opinion survey among the Cewa tribe of Fort Jameson district, Northern Rhodesia. Although the survey was a failure, judged by the rigorous standards of public-opinion polling, it nevertheless threw light on some of the problems that arise when public-opinion-polling techniques are adapted for use among preliterate peoples. Research of this kind has a place in assessing general morale, in gauging people's reactions to administrative and development policies, and in supplementing the more intensive, but highly selective, observations of the social anthropologist. Because this is an important but almost untouched field, I am recording the lessons that are to be learned from my experiment.

scholarly journals The raced constitution of Europe: The Eurobarometer and the statistical imagination of European racism

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Slootweg ◽  
Rogier van Reekum ◽  
Willem Schinkel
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Opinion Survey ◽  
Public Opinion Research ◽  
Public Opinion Survey ◽  
Opinion Polling ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Public ◽  
Shed Light

Centering upon the first Europe-wide public opinion survey of racism, carried out by the Eurobarometer in 1988, this article explores how studying European public opinion research can shed light on what we call the raced constitution of Europe. Based on an analysis of this Eurobarometer survey, we scrutinize how Eurobarometer opinion polling involves a constant scale-switching through which ‘Europe’ and ‘racism’ are co-produced. As we argue, techniques of European opinion polling contributed to the imagination of a ‘European’ ideological whole, from which stabilized categories of ‘non-European others’ were excluded. By creating an opposition between ‘democratic Europe’ and ‘individualized xenophobia’, racism was enacted as a lower class attitude ‘not of Europe’ and as a permanent rem(a)inder of the past that serves to legitimate the project of European integration.

Examining the Distinctiveness of Antecedents to Trust in Government

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Porumbescu ◽  
Yoonhwan Park
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Opinion Survey ◽  
Public Opinion Survey ◽  
The Social

Approaches to understanding trust in government are likely to be incomplete if they are only applied to trust and not government as well. As such, this study builds upon existing attempts to understand trust in government by deconstructing the terms trust and government and assessing the relationships among the various components within South Korea. To analyse the antecedents of trust in government, multiple regression analyses are used to assess The Social Trust Public Opinion Survey (2004), which addresses current trust levels across society, markets, institutions, and government. Our findings suggest the significance of determinants of trust vary by area of government.

Perception of Traffic Noise Barrier Effectiveness: Public Opinion Survey of Residents Living near I-71

1997 ◽  
Vol 1601 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd A. Herman ◽  
Michael A. Finney ◽  
Craig M. Clum ◽  
E.W. Pinckney
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
Opinion Survey ◽  
Noise Barriers ◽  
Noise Abatement ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
Public Opinion Survey ◽  
Project Area ◽  
Noise Barrier

The completion of the largest Ohio Department of Transportation traffic noise abatement project in 1995 was met with public controversy over the effectiveness of the noise barriers. A public opinion survey was designed to obtain the perceptions of the residents in the project area. In a departure from most surveys of traffic noise barrier effectiveness, the coverage was not limited to the first or second row of houses, but was extended to 800 m on each side of the roadway. It was found that the larger survey area was needed to avoid misleading conclusions. Overall perceptions of noise barrier effectiveness were found to vary with distance from the roadway and with noise barrier configuration.

Testing the Effects of Paired Issue Statements on the Seven-Point Issue Scales

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 61-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Jacoby
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Psychological Distance ◽  
National Election ◽  
Opinion Survey ◽  
Question Format ◽  
Public Opinion Survey ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Political Controversy ◽  
Election Studies

Many recent empirical analyses of citizens' issue attitudes rely on the seven-point issue scales, which have been included in all of the biennial National Election Studies (NES) since 1968. The question format used to create these scales requires people to respond to two different issue statements simultaneously. While this approach has a number of practical advantages, it may also distort the measurement of issue attitudes in several ways. In order to examine this possibility, a 1990 South Carolina public-opinion survey had people respond to the separate issue statements. The empirical results lead to an optimistic assessment of the seven-point scales. People do seem to regard the paired issue statements in any of the seven-point questions as the opposite sides of a political controversy. This general conclusion has some important caveats: there are several distinct dimensions underlying citizens' issue judgments, and the degree of psychological distance between conflicting issue positions varies somewhat across issues. These findings have important implications for our understanding and measurement of citizens' issue attitudes.

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