Abstract
This paper describes polls and survey methods using the examples of three types of polls, namely entertainment survey, political survey and general survey. The paper will also briefly describe the business application of polls and surveys. In conclusion the paper will present a small-scale survey devised by the author to showcase understanding of the subject.
Introduction
This paper presents a lecture on that describes how entertainment polls or surveys are conducted. For the purposes of this paper I have chosen the article from PR Newswire dated 4th April 2016 which describes a consumer survey conducted by E-Score that determined who were the most popular or talented winners of the singing reality show American Idol. Further in this paper I shall also describe how political surveys and general opinion surveys are conducted using examples from Gallup. In conclusion, I shall present the results of a small-scale survey that I conducted among 20 of my family and friends in order to demonstrate my understanding of the polls and survey processes.
Entertainment survey from Newsstand (Proquest)
As the latest season of the American reality show American Idol drew to a close, E-Score, a leading consumer research service, conducted a survey to rank the past winners of the show by order of talent (PRNewswire, 2016). The survey revealed that close to 64% of Americans think that Carrie Underwood is the most talented Idol till date. It also showed that most Americans consider American Idol contestants to be more talented than other pop culture artists of the generation.
In the American Idol survey, 1,100 persons representing all income, age, education and geographic groups were surveyed. They were asked to rate who they thought was the most talented American Idol winner as well as the most talented participant ever regardless of win. Participants were also asked whether they preferred Idols to some of the popular musicians of the day. According to Fricker (2008), while there are several methods for conducting internet surveys, entertainment surveys conducted via the internet are rarely scientific in nature and are for the purpose of entertainment only. It is also not a guarantee that a large sample will necessarily provide a representation of the cross section of the population. American Idol has averaged 10 million viewers every season with the peak arriving in the latest season’s finale with over 12 million viewers tuning in (Kissell, 2016). Given the size of the total viewers, it is therefore difficult to assess the suitability of the sample chosen.
The survey however pointed to the continued interest in the program which was first launched in 2002 recently concluded a successful 15-year run. It showed that American Idol continues to be a highly followed program and that it has left a lasting impact on the American music and entertainment industry.Surveys and polls like these may help Fox Broadcasting Company, the broadcast network of the program, make decisions about the program’s future. Since this survey has proven that American Idol participants continue to be popular, it may provide valuable information to record companies regarding customer interest.
Political survey (from Gallup or Pew Research)
A political survey is generally conducted in order to assess the public’s responses to political party members during an election campaign or even to assess the response of the public to bills tabled by their representatives. For the purpose of this paper I shall discuss a recent Gallup survey which showed that more Americans are identifying themselves politically as Democrats rather than Republican (Jones, 2016). 46% Americans are leaning towards Democrats as opposed to 40% for the Republicans.
The result was based on monthly averages of Gallup daily tracking data which includes 13,000 interviews each month. Every night Gallup asks Americans whether they identify politically as Democrat, Republican or Independent. If the answer is Independent, they are further asked whether they lean more towards Democrat or Republican. For the period March 1-31 of 2016, a random sample of 15,253 adults living in all states of the US was chosen. The sampling error percentage is plus or minus 1%.
This result has shown that more Americans are likely to vote in the favor of Democrats in the upcoming Presidential elections barring any major incidents. This inference helps the opposing party to change its campaign tactics based on the the feedback from the public.
General survey (from Gallup or Pew Research)
A survey published in Gallup (Norman, 2016) shows that less and less Americans consider TV viewing a favorite thing to do at night. Compared to 1965 when 48% Americans felt TV viewing was the best evening activity, only 16% Americans feel so 50 years later. “Staying Home” is the favorite activity according to the poll. TV viewing however is substantially higher in the 55 years and older age group with 25% of the demographic preferring this activity. Younger people prefer staying at home, resting, reading and a small percentage prefer socializing with friends.
For this poll, telephone interviews were conducted for five days in December 2015 using a random sample of 824 people across all states in the country. The margin of error is explained as being plus or minus 4%. Of the sample, 60% interviews were landline calls while the remaining were cellular phone calls.
The results show that for the average American who spends an entire day infront of one screen or another, TV no longer holds a special appeal. Since reading and resting are also favorite, enterprises in these sectors can create more opportunities for people to enjoy their evenings.
Overview
The three surveys presented show how various polls and surveys can be conducted in order to understand trends across a broad spectrum of topics. While entertainment surveys conducted online are least likely to serve more than an entertainment purpose, political polls are highly likely to have larger samples and more accurate collection of data. The impact of a political poll is far reaching and therefore needs careful consideration as to survey method, sampling method and determining how much sampling error is acceptable. Most political surveys are likely to cover large cross sections of the population being surveyed. They are also more likely to be conducted through formal telephonic interviews as opposed to online surveys. General surveys are also more likely to be accurate in data collection although sample sizes maybe smaller than that in political surveys. Again, data collection methods tend to be more formal, generally telephonic interviews. It is my opinion that political surveys are generally more accurate in sampling, more formal in data collection and therefore more accurate in results.
Application: copy of survey
I created a 3-question entertainment survey to study the movie watching habits of 21 of my friends and family. For the purposes of this paper, I shall assume that the sample is representative of the American public. The questions asked in the survey were as follows:
1. What is your favorite kind of movie? Respondent can choose 9 fixed genres or fill up his/her own genre.
2. About how often do you go to the movies? Respondent can choose from 9 options ranging from “More than once a week” to “Not at all”
3. In a typical month, about how many movies do you download from the internet? Respondents have to answer with a number.
Application: Results - Chart 1
This chart shows that over 33% of Americans prefer watching comedies followed closely by the action genre. Romance and drama are preferred by an equal number of Americans.
Application: Results - Chart 2
The chart shows that a majority of Americans go to the movies only once a month. An equal percentage (23.8%) of Americans go to the movies every three to six months. While a significant proportion visit the movies only once a year, there are Americans who never go to the movies (4.8%). At the other end of the spectrum is a group that goes 2-3 times a month. No Americans go for movies on a weekly basis.
Application: Results - Chart 3
The chart shows that majority of Americans do not download movies from the Internet at all. A significant proportion (9.5%) download 1 or 2 movies per month. People who download only 1 and those who download 3 or more are equally distributed.
Application: Surveys and Business
Conclusion
This paper shows that polls and surveys help in analyzing trends across various sectors and topics. Survey results can be used to decide future directions and outcomes for any business.
References
Deloitte (2014). Media Consumer Survey 2014. Magazines.au.org. Retrieved from http://magazines.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Deloitte_Media_Consumer_Survey_2014.pdf
Fricker, R. (2008). In The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods. SAGE.
Retrieved from Google Books
Jones, J.M. (2016). Democrats Increasing Their Edge in U.S. Party Affiliation. Gallup. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/190421/democrats-increasing-edge-party-affiliation.aspx?g_source=Politics&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles
Norman, J. (2016). TV Hits New Low as Favorite Way in U.S. to Spend Evening. Gallup. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/188078/hits-new-low-favorite-spend-evening.aspx?g_source=CATEGORY_WELLBEING&g_medium=topic&g_campaign=tiles
Kissell, R. (2016, April 8). Ratings: ‘American Idol’ Exits With Largest Finale Audience in Three Years. Variety. Retrieved from URL http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/american-idol-finale-ratings-fox-1201748997/
Carrie Underwood And Kelly Clarkson Are The Most Talented American Idol Winners, Pia Toscano Is The Most Talented Contestant Of All-Time, According To Just-Released Report From E-Score. (2016). PRNewswire. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carrie-underwood-and-kelly-clarkson-are-the-most-talented-american-idol-winners-pia-toscano-is-the-most-talented-contestant-of-all-time-according-to-just-released-report-from-e-score-300245662.html
