Book Review
With the increasing use of public opinion polling to collect information on almost every aspect of modern life, it becomes more and more difficult for people to separate the good polls from the bad ones and to determine whether the outcomes of a poll are valid or not. An easy to follow guidance is much needed. This book "Understanding Public Opinion Polls" by Dr. Jelke Bethlehem is written for professionals who have no prior training in relevant fields but need to judge the outcome of polls such as journalists, politicians, and decision makers among other non experts in polling. The book, in the author's own words, is a "not so technical introduction" to public opinion polling. It can be viewed as providing a checklist to evaluate the quality of different polls or a how to cookbook for conducting polls with appropriate methodologies that result in valid outcomes. The book covers all elements of conducting a poll, including the definition of a target population, the questionnaire design, the mode choice, sample design, weighting, data analysis, and the publication of the results. It is not uncommon for an "all inclusive" book on survey statistics and methodology to be "too heavy" for entry level readers. This book achieves a balance by including examples in each chapter to make it easier for readers to digest the relevant information on statistics and methodology. Chapter 1 of the book provides an overview of the book's content. Chapter 2 gives a brief history of polls starting from their origin in ancient Greece to the development of modern sampling theory, the emergence of public opinion polls, and finally the rise of online polls. The remainder of the chapters can be grouped into three parts. Part One includes Chapter 3 to Chapter 7 and each covers a key component of a poll. Part Two focuses on two specific types of polls that are of the most interest to readers: online polls in Chapter 8 and election polls in Chapter 9. Part Three of the book is about data analysis and publication. The book concludes with Chapter 12 that summarizes all chapters and provides a checklist of poll quality for readers. Part One includes five chapters with each covering a vital component of a poll. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the questionnaire design covering topics such as the types of survey questions, the question order effects, and questionnaire pretesting methods. The author recommends ignoring the poll outcomes if the instrument is poorly designed. Chapter 4 describes four major modes of data collection (i.e. face to face, telephone, mail, and online polls) The author provides pros and cons for each mode in terms of data quality and costs. After reading this chapter, it should become clear to readers that some