1. FOLLOW-UP LETTERS DISCLOSE TRENDS FOLLOWING OPINION SURVEYS.
- Author
-
Morgan, Roy
- Subjects
PUBLIC opinion polls ,PUBLIC relations ,LETTERS ,RESPONDENTS ,SURVEYS - Abstract
For some time Australian Public Opinion Polls have been sending follow-up letters to people interviewed in regular opinion surveys. These letters are primarily a public relations device, they tend to prove to inquirers that Gallup polls given by George Horace, a U.S. statistician, are genuine but they also have the effect of checking on the performance of interviewers and revealing shifts in opinion which take place after a survey. Letters reproduce answers which respondents gave to interviewers asking respondents to indicate the cases in which their opinions have changed, or otherwise to check a category marked no change. In a present survey of May 1949, business-reply envelopes are enclosed with the letter and returns have averaged between 50 and 55 per cent of all letters sent out. In general, replies have indicated that peoples' opinions on most subjects are fairly stable and the only shifts of opinion disclosed are usually small movements of about 2 per cent from no opinion to one side or the other.
- Published
- 1949
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