Course Overview
- Title:
- Understanding Election Polls: 2008 Election Series, Part III
- Type:
- Webinar
- Cost:
- $24.95
- Originally Broadcast On:
- September 18, 2008
- Time Estimate:
- One hour
$24.95
About Webinars
In this virtual classroom, participants can join in a seminar led by Poynter faculty and visiting faculty. This screencast includes live audio and a slideshow presentation in which participants can post questions and respond to poll questions posed by the host.
- This Webinar was originally broadcast on:
- September 18, 2008 Enroll Now
- Watch and listen to the original one-hour Webinar in its entirety. This Webinar recording features the full presentation led by Poynter faculty and visiting faculty including Q&A from the audience and resources from the presenter.
Reporters covering the 2008 presidential election were inundated with polling data from the start of the campaign through the exit polls on Nov 4. Understanding how to assess different results coming from similar polls was essential for quality reporting. Furthermore, the election carried with it its own specific nuisances and challenges for interpreting polls, not the least of which was trying to ascertain racial- or age-based biases underlying voter opinions.
This Webinar is part of a three-part 2008 Election Series. Others in the series are:
- Covering the Election at the Local Level: A Poynter/NewsU Replay, originally broadcast Aug. 21, 2008, with Butch Ward, acting general manager and a member of the faculty of The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla.
- Covering Race in the Presidential Race:A Poynter/NewsU Replay, originally broadcast Aug. 27, 2008, with Keith Woods the dean of faculty and teaches coverage of race relations at The Poynter Institute.
What Will I Learn:
How to assess:
- Sample size and its impact on assessing poll results, particularly among subgroups so relevant to this election
- Determining “who’s ahead” when poll results are close
- Who was included in the sample and assessing likely voter screens
- Results from national pre-election polls vs state-based ones, and how to think about results in the context of the electoral college
- Differing poll results even when methods and time frames of the polls are similar
Who Should Take this Course:
Although this course looks back at the 2008 presidential election, it contains useful information that translates to all poll interpretation. This course is for anyone interested in how to interpret results from polls.
Course Instructor:
Claudia Deane
Claudia Deane is the associate director for public opinion and survey research at the Kaiser Family Foundation, where she works on a variety of survey-related projects focused primarily on understanding the public’s views on health policy issues.
Technical Requirements:
This Webinar contains audio. Please make sure you've got your headphones and speakers adjusted.
For the best experience, we suggest that:
- PC users use Internet Explorer or Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox
- Mac users use Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox or Safari
- You set your monitor resolution to 1024 x 768 or higher
- You use a high-speed connection
Questions? Read our Webinar FAQ or contact us at webinars@newsu.org.