Deck 9: Public Opinion

Question 1

The role of the media in shaping public opinion is best described as

A) ​providing entertaining distractions.
B) ​telling people what to think about.
C) telling people what to think.
D) influencing elites.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What was the reason the Literary Digest incorrectly forecast the winner of the 1936 presidential election? ​

A) ​Quota sampling
B) A biased sample
C) Random sampling
D) Exit polling

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The tools of content analysis are used to understand ​

A) ​the impact of policy initiatives on a particular group.
B) ​mass public opinion.
C) ​the opinion of a particular interest group.
D) ​the broader policy agenda, especially the preferences and agenda of elites.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Content analysis is traditionally understood to mean careful study of

A) ​public opinion from particular years.
B) ​printed or text-based material.
C) media.
D) trending social media.

Question 5

Evidence indicates that the government is much more responsive to the preferences of ​constituents

A) ​with the lowest income.
B) with the highest income.
C) ​who are highly educated.
D) who are not educated.

Question 6

When researchers study public opinion from a particular year, they are using ​

A) ​opinion polling.
B) ​focus groups.
C) ​archival content analysis.
D) survey research.

Question 7

What is the purpose of a town hall meeting?

A) To influence public opinion
B) To find out what constituents think
C) ​To find out what elites think
D) ​To formulate media opinion

Question 8

Which of the following is not a method available for understanding public opinion? ​

A) ​Focus groups
B) ​Media content analysis
C) Legislative oversight review
D) ​Archival content analysis

Question 9

What is the most commonly used method for understanding public opinion? ​

A) ​Viewing the evening news
B) ​Conducting public opinion polls
C) Reading newspaper editorials
D) Analyzing social media

Question 10

What do political campaigns use to determine how to approach various demographic groups or to uncover information that may not be well suited to a traditional phone opinion poll? ​

A) Focus groups
B) ​Archival content analysis
C) ​Exit polling
D) Survey research

Question 11

A sample is representative when it ​

A) ​includes a large number of people.
B) ​asks respondents to do something (i.e., mail the survey) in addition to taking the survey.
C) ​includes the entire population.
D) ​mirrors a population.

Question 12

​What term refers to the outright refusal to participate in a survey?

A) Outright nonresponse
B) ​Survey nonresponse
C) ​Item nonresponse
D) Total nonresponse

Question 13

​ In agenda setting, who determines the most important issues for public discussion?

A) ​Legislators
B) ​Media
C) ​Pollsters
D) ​Candidates

Question 14

Except for the 2012 election results, the Gallup organization has correctly predicted all presidential elections since

A) ​1936.
B) ​1948.
C) ​1952.
D) ​1962.

Question 15

Which of the following was not initially a reason for public opinion research? ​

A) To find out the public's voting intentions
B) To figure out the public's view on issues
C) ​For journalistic promotion
D) ​For entertainment

Question 16

A straw poll is ​a

A) random sampling, usually asking for a response to a recent federal decision.
B) random sampling, usually asking for preferences of candidates.
C) ​nonrepresentative poll, usually asking for important issues.
D) ​nonrepresentative poll, usually asking for preferences of candidates.

Question 17

What is one of the key challenges for any person in public life? ​

A) ​Creating and writing a public opinion poll
B) ​Eliminating the need to understand public opinion
C) Formulating and expressing public opinion
D) ​Understanding, following, and manipulating public opinion

Question 18

Family structure, age, gender, partisanship, and peer interactions all play a significant role in shaping

A) content analysis.
B) ​media ideology.
C) public opinion patterns.
D) ​media exposure.

Question 19

The first job of a survey researcher is to ​

A) ​identify the population of interest.
B) ​draw a sample.
C) ​create a survey.
D) ​complete a straw poll.

Question 20

George Gallup introduced the use of ​

A) ​probability sampling.
B) ​quota sampling.
C) ​biased sampling.
D) polling research.

Question 21

When using closed-ended questions, researchers need to ​

A) ​limit the number of answers.
B) ​ask short questions.
C) ​include all of the appropriate answer options.
D) ​have the same number of answers for each question.

Question 22

What is the name given to the technique used during political campaigns in an attempt to persuade voters to vote for (or against) a particular candidate, or not bother going to the polls at all? ​

A) Call-in polls
B) ​Push polls
C) Unscientific polls
D) ​Single-question polls

Question 23

What kind of spectrum is the most convenient way to think about political ideologies? ​

A) ​Noneducated-educated
B) Federalist-libertarian
C) Affluent-lower income
D) Liberal-conservative

Question 24

What are double-barreled questions? ​

A) ​Questions that are focused on more than one issue, but allow for two responses
B) ​Questions that are focused on more than one issue, but allow only one response
C) Questions regarding two trending major issues
D) Questions about gun laws and the Second Amendment

Question 25

By the mid-1980s, what was the main way of gathering opinions? ​

A) ​Straw polling
B) ​In-person polling
C) ​Telephone polling
D) ​Mail polling

Question 26

Sources, such as our family, influence our values, which are understood to be

A) ​our inherent biases.
B) what we consider right or wrong.
C) ​the behaviors that we exhibit.
D) ​the broad principles that we support.

Question 27

Cell phones pose a threat to public opinion research because

A) ​the majority of households with residents over age 65 do not use them.
B) they do not accept toll-free calls from research firms.
C) ​almost 40% of households no longer have landlines.
D) most cell phone users won't answer a number they don't recognize.

Question 28

Polling bias is intentionally introduced through the use of

A) ​cell phone polling.
B) questions about voting intentions.
C) Internet polling.
D) manipulative question wording.

Question 29

Which of the following presents the greatest challenge to modern opinion research? ​

A) Population mobility
B) ​Increased diversity
C) Availability of the Internet
D) A shift in telephone ownership and usage

Question 30

What is the term for the tendency of some respondents to report an answer in a way they deem more socially acceptable than their true opinion? ​

A) Social acceptability bias
B) ​Social consciousness bias
C) ​Social bias
D) Social responsibility bias

Question 31

The American Association for Public Opinion Research has issued clear guidelines on what should be included when a pollster ​

A) ​conducts exit polling.
B) ​interacts with participants.
C) ​creates a survey.
D) ​reports results.

Question 32

What is the best definition of beliefs? ​

A) Views that are derived from values and inform the broader structure of people's opinions
B) The broadest principles that people throughout a culture or nation support
C) Facts that represent a narrow understanding of one's given culture
D) A changing and malleable set of ideas

Question 33

In the 2012 presidential election, which factor or factors appear to have most influenced voting choices?

A) Wealth
B) Race and ethnicity
C) Age and education level
D) Education level

Question 34

What is a constant, systematic form of error? ​

A) ​Bias
B) ​Manipulation
C) Random sampling
D) Complex issues

Question 35

​An individual who possesses a liberal ideology is most likely to support

A) ​preserving traditional social values.
B) ​more government intervention in the economy.
C) ​eliminating traditional social values.
D) little government intervention in the economy.

Question 36

The process through which values are transmitted is called ​

A) ​political transmission.
B) ​values socialization.
C) ​political socialization.
D) ​religious socialization.

Question 37

Unscientific polls are appropriately used to

A) ​identify populations for scientific research.
B) ​gain reader interest and engagement.
C) provide an accurate picture of public opinion.
D) select presidential candidates.

Question 38

Which of the following is not an example of an unscientific poll? ​

A) ​A call-in poll
B) ​A straw poll
C) A Gallup poll
D) A ​single-question poll on a website

Question 39

​________ tends to be cited as the critical factor determining Americans' opinions on social issues, such as same-sex marriage.

A) ​Religion
B) ​Gender
C) ​Age
D) ​Ethnicity

Question 40

The gender gap is a common term for the tendency of women to be more likely to support ​

A) ​Republicans.
B) ​Democrats.
C) ​Libertarians.
D) independents.

Question 41

Visual displays of survey data are useful because ​they more effectively

A) engage the reader.
B) illustrate the margin of error.
C) illustrate differences or changes over time than tables and numbers.
D) ​cover negative opinion data.

Question 42

A major reason to use weighting is

A) ​to compensate for push polling.
B) ​to compensate for large survey response.
C) to correct for issues in question formation.
D) ​to correct for issues in sampling.

Question 43

When reading line graphs, it is very important to examine the ​

A) title.
B) ​graph's legend to determine what each line represents.
C) Y-axis.
D) percentage ranges.

Question 44

Weighting is ​statistical adjustments

A) ​that are not acceptable to improve the survey results.
B) made to survey data to accommodate those who did not understand the survey.
C) made to survey data after collection to improve the accuracy of survey estimates.
D) that reflect the margin of error related to the sample size.

Question 45

A good standard range of the Y-axis on a line graph should be 0-100% with a scale of

A) ​10.
B) ​20.
C) ​30.
D) ​40.

Question 46

A line graph has two lines that draw dramatically closer together. Which question will best help explain this finding?

A) ​What is a good standard range?
B) ​Does each line increase?
C) Is there an event or issue that could have caused the change?
D) ​What years are represented?

Question 47

Bar graphs are particularly useful in examining ​

A) upward ​trends.
B) ​data between categories.
C) downward trends.
D) ​data within a single category.

Question 48

When a survey reads "plus or minus 5%," this represents the ​

A) ​margin of error.
B) number of participants that chose not to respond.
C) range of scale.
D) ​distortion.

Question 49

When looking at polling results, which of the following is not always necessary to find?

A) ​Who conducted the survey
B) ​The size of the sample
C) The method that the pollster used to contact respondents
D) Whether it was conducted in multiple languages

Question 50

In line graphs, the horizontal axis is called the ________, and it is often used to ________.

A) ​X-axis; display demographic categories
B) ​X-axis; demonstrate change over time
C) ​Y-axis; display demographic categories
D) ​Y-axis; demonstrate change over time