OPINIONS
ABOUT THE OPINION POLLS
In India, the election
of 2014 is now, just knocking our door. The political parties are continuously
changing their day-to-day strategies after watching the opinion polls. The
polls are telling them what proportion of a population has a specific
viewpoint. These polls are playing the role like a destiny teller.
The opinion poll is a
kind of survey or inquiry designed to measure the public views, regarding a
particular topic or series of topics. The polls are simply a measurement tools
that informs the mass, how a population thinks and feels about the specific
given situation. The trained interviewers ask questions to the people chosen at
random form, through this the population being measured. After getting the
responses, interpretations are made based on the results. The opinion polls
were started in late 80’s and after that; it gained the popularity in India.
Now, if we try to
understand the importance of the opinion poll in India, then our first question
should be this-
“Are the opinion poll’s
surveys really relevant?”
Then the answer is
quite simple- if the surveys use a well designed, scientific methodology which
can made the transparent view, then it serves the very useful purpose of
providing important clues to the opinions of the public at large on important
issues, and of promoting informed public debate on such issues.
The most interesting
fact about it is that, the opinion of political parties is divided. The
political parties are however privately agreed that, these opinion polls are
actually very beneficial for them. But at the same time here a growing
controversy about the authenticity of the opinion poll. This poll also attracts
many political analysis who developed new techniques to predict the outcome of
election. To get the perfect research of the result, some agencies even
borrowed techniques from the foreign agencies.
A mature democratic country like India here
the opinion poll is not only important for the citizen and the politician to
know what the other people think but also opinion poll’s result allows them to
change the tactics according to the situation. It is also informing the
political leaders about the public opinion on decisions they make, thus
performing on extra check on the executive, next to the parliament.
Therefore, the opinion
polls are important for the publicity of the party and to engage huge mass
where various kinds of diversity belongs.
After the all
discussion, we have another important question to know the real standpoint of
the opinion poll. Therefore our second question should be –
“Are the opinion poll’s
surveys’ reliable or authentic?”
Then the answer is- the
opinion polls are purely statically analysis but now days the product research
can be also heavily manipulated by the organization performing the poll in
question. A bias can be created by selecting a certain target group or asking
certain particular questions. The problem is that its unfair influence disturbs
the democratic process and generates the false information. Sometimes the
publishing data of the opinion polls mislead the mass. According to is, the
process of opinion poll is neither scientific nor transparent.
Opinion poll is one of
the vital tools to create the public opinion. But, recently a, news channel had
conducted a sting operation and they aired how the agencies conducting the
survey can manipulate the opinion poll by charging lump sum money from the
various parties. Due to this the opinion poll’s surveys’ are not reliable.
Neha Roy
M.Sc Media P.G 1
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