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November 14, 2002
Also In The Post. .
Also In The Post. . . Football and TV sports beat writer Len Shapiro has a curiously short piece questioning the methodology of the poll that was commissioned by Augusta National Golf Club, that the club contends shows overwhelming support for their policy of refusing to admit women as members: Tom Smith, a nationally known pollster at the University of Chicago, reviewed the poll and said it was "probably not high quality. . . . [It was] one-sided. . . . Some of the questions are seriously flawed and may have a clear slant to them. It is very unusual to personalize so many questions in terms of one person, Martha Burk." On the positive side, he added, "the one side the poll emphasizes, free association, is an important perspective and one that should be well represented in a more balanced assessment of public opinion on this issue." Earlier yesterday evening, ESPN's Sports Center had a brief interview with the CEO of another p polling and marketing company the cable network uses for its own surveys on sports -- an interview where that individual questioned the way the poll was conducted as well. As a poor speech writer, I simply don't have the expertise to determine whether or not the poll is kosher or not. However, despite the fact that I generally lean in favor of Augusta's position in this case, I have to applaud the journalistic impulse that leads a reporter to question the nuts and bolts of polling, and what it tells us about a poll's value. However, I would like to see this impulse used to question polls in other areas, most often in politics.
Eric
12:29 AM
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