Inside the CBS News polling facility

(CBS)

Our interviewing room seats 55 interviewers, who are alerted just before each poll starts. Many of them have other jobs; we employ people with a wide variety of interests and backgrounds at the poll. We have a textiles consultant, a former employee of the City of New York, a postal worker, students, some people employed in the financial sector and someone who works at a museum. Some are musicians or actors, who are free to come and go at the poll in between their acting and music jobs. And we have retirees who enjoy interacting with people and are interested in current events.

One thing in particular distinguishes our work force; many have worked at the poll for a very long time. The three supervisors who make sure things are functioning smoothly have a combined longevity of almost fifty years at the poll. Nearly half of our interviewers have worked at the poll for eight years or longer.

Their experience is invaluable to us. Because so many of our interviewers have worked here for years, they know how to react to just about any situation they might encounter.

When we do need to hire new interviewers, we rely on word of mouth and the personal recommendations of other interviewers for our hiring pool. New interviewers go through a lengthy training process that includes role playing and close personal supervision on their first shift.

Conducting poll interviews is a challenging job, requiring patience, a thick skin when people on the other end of the phone abruptly hang up (or worse), and deftness at handling people from all walks of life and regions of the country. Convincing people to participate in our poll isn't the toughest part -- many Americans enjoy giving their opinions about the issues of the day or the latest political campaign. But it takes real skill to keep people on the phone once their baby starts to cry, or managing the poll participant who wants to respond at length to every question. Maintaining a professional demeanor while dealing with these situations is something our interviewers do well.

To make sure that all participants hear the questions in exactly the same way, interviewers read the poll questions from their computers. They must read the questions exactly as written and make sure that the respondent clearly understands what is being asked, and they must ensure that the participant chooses an answer from the list of responses provided. Sounds easy, but it's not.

Before each poll begins, we review the questionnaire with the interviewers, who provide insightful and invaluable feedback on what works and what doesn't work over the phone. That communication, between the people who write the questions and analyze the data and the people who gather the data, improves the quality of our polls.

Having our own phone room improves quality in another way as well. Because we hire and train the interviewers and monitor the interviewing, we are able to maintain a high quality of work standards.

Through their direct interaction with the public, our interviewers represent our news organizations to the public. The impression they make on our poll participants may influence how those people view the poll itself. We know them all by name, and they are a critical and respected part of every poll we conduct.