The phone rang just before 8:00 PM this evening. I decided to answer in the kitchen. It's a corded phone. I don't get many calls here at home and when I do they don't last long. Even telemarketers don't get far with me because nearly always I just say that I'm not interested and then hang up. No arguments. No regrets.

This time the caller introduced himself as a Dan Jones associate wanting to ask me my opinion. We all know about polls. You can hardly read a newspaper, watch television or listen to the radio without hearing, seeing or reading about some poll or another. It's amazing to me that with all these polls I've never participated in one. Oh, sure, I've taken those bogus polls that are really a gambit to sell time shares. But a real live, honest-to-goodness, legitimate poll, that's something that has never happened to me.

I laughed and answered that, sure, I have opinions and I'd be happy to share them. I was surprised by the set of questions. I can't remember them all but in general I was first asked if I'd ever heard of a specific local business. Next I was asked to identify what the business does. Then, did I have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of that business? Fair enough.

Next I was asked if I had heard of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). And did I have a favorable or unfavorable opinion? Then I was asked about the pending legislation in Utah that would set aside federal NCLB standards for state standards.

Okay, I started wondering where this was going. Next I was asked if the NBA should set a minimum age of 20 years old for entrance. The next question dealt with the Utah Jazz. How important was it for them to make the playoffs next year? And then I was asked to identify the likelihood of Utah sports fans to support the Jazz, the Stingers, Real Salt Lake, University of Utah teams, BYU teams and Weber State teams.

The next set of questions dealt with Real Salt Lake. What did I think of the name? Should they owners keep it or change it? Was I likely to go to the RSL home opener? Will I watch the home opener on TV? Am I a fan?

Lastly I was asked some demographic questions. What is my household imcome? How many wage earners in my home? How many children live in my home that are under 18? My religion? My political affiliation? Would I characterize myself as a conservative or a liberal? Thanks for my time and that was it.

By the time I finished I really couldn't tell what the survey was all about. Was my questioner trying to find out about NCLB with a bunch of other questions thrown in to mask this intent? Or was this a survey commissioned by Real Salt Lake?

This was an enlightening experience. I can see that if a survey is done properly that the respondent probably doesn't know the agenda and can't skew the response. It was pretty cool. I came away from the whole experience with a newfound respect for the art of polling done right. I don't have a clue what this poll was all about. I am certain that I gave an honest set of answers to a strange collection of questions. Oh, yeah, and I found myself wishing I'd answered on one of our many cordless phones............
9:43:07 PM    comment []