How Many People to Survey?

Gallup poll results are prevalent in the media especially leading up to elections as are reports on surveys done by universities and research groups like the Pew Research Center.

The survey results of small groups of people are used to portray a general consensus about a population. Ever wonder how many people should be included in a survey to make it a meaningful reflection of a population? Now you will be able to answer your own question. Be warned; you will never feel the same about these polls and surveys again.

Using the following specific resources, create a lecture (with citations) which includes the following:

Part 1: Survey Analysis

Entertainment Survey
Using a newspaper article from AIU library’s full-text database: National Newspapers (Proquest), create a lecture (with citations) which includes the following:

• Describe an entertainment poll or survey. Analyze the number of people who participated in the sample compared to the number in the population. Most news articles will not provide information on the number of people surveyed. In this case critique the validity of the results. (Be sure to cite the article which must be from National Newspapers -ProQuest) Here is a Research Guide.
• Discuss how the results of the survey can be used to tell a story or support an idea of the sponsoring company or media group.

Political Survey
Using polls from one of the following sources:

Source 1

Source 2

• Describe a political poll or survey. Analyze the number of people who participated in the sample compared to the number in the population.
• Discuss how the results of the survey can be used to tell a story or support an idea of the sponsoring company or media group.

General Survey
Using polls from one of the following sources:

Source 1

Source 2

• Describe a general opinion poll or survey. Analyze the number of people who participated in the sample compared to the number in the population.
• Discuss