- Joined
- Nov 6, 2019
- Messages
- 9,889
- Reaction score
- 10,490
- Location
- In the center of it all.
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Undisclosed
As to my bona fides:
On a basic level, when performing a poll, there are two ways to account for possible sample bias regarding cross-tabs. Weighing, or stratified sampling. The latter is done before the polling, the former after.
Weighing is manipulating the results after the poll, according to demographics. If 20% of your respondents were Black, but only 16% of your population was, you modify the numbers accordingly. This type of adjustments warps the results in a way that can be dangerous, and scientifically unsound.
Stratification is different - with a stratified sample, the pollster has separate phone lists, divided by various demographic information. When the poll is performed, X percent of calls are made from each demographic list - where X is the percentage of the population represented by that list.
Both of these metrics require immaluble and mutually exclusive demographics, if any sense of accuracy is to be maintained. Which is why self-described party registration can not be used as either a weight, or a stratification.
On a basic level, when performing a poll, there are two ways to account for possible sample bias regarding cross-tabs. Weighing, or stratified sampling. The latter is done before the polling, the former after.
Weighing is manipulating the results after the poll, according to demographics. If 20% of your respondents were Black, but only 16% of your population was, you modify the numbers accordingly. This type of adjustments warps the results in a way that can be dangerous, and scientifically unsound.
Stratification is different - with a stratified sample, the pollster has separate phone lists, divided by various demographic information. When the poll is performed, X percent of calls are made from each demographic list - where X is the percentage of the population represented by that list.
Both of these metrics require immaluble and mutually exclusive demographics, if any sense of accuracy is to be maintained. Which is why self-described party registration can not be used as either a weight, or a stratification.