Making a Poll Biased in this Forum

[26 X World Champs]

There seems to me to be a percentage of polls that are started here asking questions in a certain way that guarantees that the personal opinion of the poll starter is reinforced by the slanted way the question is asked.

I will now show you what I mean. Please vote for your choice of these two answers to this question:

Regarding President Bush is he:

1. The worst president since Richard Nixon

2. The worst president since William Henry Harrison

 

[Conservative1]

But I like President Bush.... :roll:

 

[Tashah]

There seems to me to be a percentage of polls that are started here asking questions in a certain way that guarantees that the personal opinion of the poll starter is reinforced by the slanted way the question is asked.

Poll questions that are 'framed' are indicitive of the author's agenda. This deliberate act of 'phrasing' seeks a determined outcome and also indicates that the author has precious little honest confidence in his/her agenda.

I would suggest that everyone be a bit leery of Poll questions that are parsed and posited to elicit a dishonest and/or unreliable result. Also, be very wary of blindly plunging into Polls or Thread titles that are extremely biased, outlandish, derogatory, or accusatory.

Tashah
[Moderator Team Member]

 

[26 X World Champs]

But I like President Bush.... :roll:

That's my point, by creating a poll that does not allow you to choose a position that is really representative of what you believe yet still compells you to participate the results of the poll are meaningless, as is the case with this poll.

This poll is purposely skewed to not allow you vote positively for President Bush. If you choose one of the options then you're compromising your position simply to participate and the results of the poll are invalid.

I've noted that in the POLL threads there are a certain percentage of polls that are started that employ this type of choice, namely, if you participate you are not really voting your conscience, you're voting purposely stilted choices that favor the poll creator's political agenda.

It's an interesting concept, especially when the results of the poll are later cited as an example and / or a certification that the intended results actually have merit.

I guess you can chalk this thread up to a sociologic expression of the manipulation of a point of view similar to propaganda or media bias.