Public Opinion Polls

Public Polling or Surveys in the Social Sciences

In the social sciences, survey research is one of the most widely used methodologies. The U.S. Census has played a major role in the employment and proliferation of this type of research. The purpose of the census is to provide up-to-date information about the demographic and economic profiles of U.S. citizens. It does so while trying to capture information within all U.S households and, as such, is often considered to be a study of an entire population as opposed to a survey of a sample of that greater population. Nonetheless, the work of the U.S. Census has provided an invaluable road-map for researchers when it comes to questionnaire design and the use of various sampling techniques.

Major universities often house centers or institutes whose sole purpose is to engage in public opinion surveying. In these survey research centers, faculty and students, as well as public and private clients, make use of modern techniques such as the computer-assisted telephone interviewing system for random-digit-dialing telephone surveys. The American Association for Public Opinion Research serves as a major resource for novice and experienced scholars of the survey research method.

The types of questions included in public opinion surveys in the social sciences vary widely and are direcdy related to the interest of the researcher or the agency or organization on behalf of whom a study is being conducted. For example, the Texas Crime Poll, conducted by the Survey Research Center of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, has been asking the public what it thinks about crime and justice since the 1970s. The crime poll was administered by way of a mail survey for over 2 decades and in the 1990s began to make [Page 680]use of telephone surveying techniques. As with other repeat polls and surveys, the Texas Crime Poll, conducted annually, makes use of a base set of questions, such as attitudes toward rehabilitation or opinions about the death penalty. Those base questions are asked every year in an effort to measure the extent to which public opinion might be shifting over time. In addition, questions about “hot topic” issues are included in order to gauge how Texans think about them. Every year, the results of the Texas Crime Poll are widely disseminated to members of the Texas legislature, county and local officials, and other public officials and agencies. Just as was noted by Gallup in the early days of polling, there is a general notion that officials pay attention to public opinion as represented in the Texas Crime Poll and others like it around the country.

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