The People Who Ask The Questions
Kathleen Frankovic gives us a peek at the people behind the polling process in her column this week:
Interviewers are the core of the survey process; they call you, talk with you and record your answers. Bad interviewers distort the way questions are asked, mispronounce the names of candidates, and inject their own opinions into the results. Good interviewers know what they are asking, are uniformly polite and stick to the interviewing script, so every person is interviewed the same way.For anyone who's ever wondered how the polling process works, Frankovic's regular column Poll Positions is must reading. Check it out.When modern polling began in the 1930s, interviewers went door to door in selected locations: interestingly, most were women. In a 1946 study, interviewers themselves were interviewed and asked what they looked for in a job. They wanted flexible hours, a job they could fit in to their daily lives, the freedom to accept or reject assignments — and extra income. In short, what they wanted was a part-time job, which is exactly what interviewing then provided.