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Editorial: What Have We Learned?
September 3rd, 2005

Editorial: Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
August 17th, 2005

Editorial: What Is a Consultant to Do?
July 5th, 2005

Editorial: Six Land Use Petitions in Play
June 25th, 2005

Editorial: Poaching & Plagiarism
June 13th, 2005

Editorial: Upward and Onward in 2005
May 24th, 2005

Editorial: Farewell Maureen
May 17th, 2005

Editorial: Speaking About Speak Out
May 10th, 2005

Editorial: Informed Voters Wanted
March 26th, 2005

Editorial: Health Needs Survey Well Received
February 12th, 2005

Editorial: Fire Protection, Fire Insurance and Tax Justice
January 25th, 2005

Editorial: Cedar Key Health Service Survey
January 14th, 2005

Editorial: New Year`s Resolution
December 31st, 2004

Editorial: Do We Need Better Healthcare in Cedar Key?
December 16th, 2004

Editorial: Help Defend Us
October 29th, 2004

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Poll Results: Fact, Fiction, or Propaganda?

Poll Results: Fact, Fiction, or Propaganda?

Editor

November 2002 is past, but publishing the results of polls continues. Last week the local print newspaper was responsible for publication of a poll that asked "Do you feel that the Cedar Key Police are doing a good job of enforcing the law?" The results were 65 percent answering "Yes", and 35 percent answering "No".

When presented with polling results the reader might well ask a few questions. Reputable pollsters disclose the margin of error and how many people answered the question. For a poll to be valid, a spectrum of the population must be questioned. Ideally, the wording of the question should not prompt a particular answer.

If a pollster asked twenty Corvette owners to name the best make of car, the results would be predictable. If Fidel Castro polled one hundred Cubans on his place in history, the results would be predictable.

The next time the results of a poll are presented, the following questions should apply:

1. How many people answered the question?

2. Was the question a straight question?

3. Who asked the question?

4. Why was the question asked?

5. Do you expect the pollster to be fair?

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