I'm still waiting for someone to figure out who these people are who actually answer their phones when they have no idea who's calling. I keep asking people if they ever talk to unknown numbers and not a person says they do...they just immediately block them.
What is the psych profile of somebody who is so bored or naive that they answer every unknown call even though the vast majority are spam? I doubt that there is a group of people who are so committed to answering pollster's questions that they will endure any number of spam calls until they hit the jackpot.
In other words, there's got to be another reason they'll do this and I'd like to know what it is because it is certainly skewing responses in some fashion.
Scott: You're right that the people who answer telephone polls are definitely _weird_. Usually, we can capture that weirdness using controls for demographic and political characteristics, but there are some big things that are different among the polled than non-polled. People who answer polls are much likelier to volunteer for political campaigns, for example, but also much more trusting of their neighbors (maybe that's why they pick up the phone in the first place?) and also go to the movies much more often than the people who don't pick up. This all makes them very "weird" indeed.
I've heard Ann Selzer claim that, in lieu of using a pollster-applied likely voter screen they just ask respondents whether they are likely to vote and believe them. Selzer nailed Iowa -- FWIW.
I'm still waiting for someone to figure out who these people are who actually answer their phones when they have no idea who's calling. I keep asking people if they ever talk to unknown numbers and not a person says they do...they just immediately block them.
What is the psych profile of somebody who is so bored or naive that they answer every unknown call even though the vast majority are spam? I doubt that there is a group of people who are so committed to answering pollster's questions that they will endure any number of spam calls until they hit the jackpot.
In other words, there's got to be another reason they'll do this and I'd like to know what it is because it is certainly skewing responses in some fashion.
Scott: You're right that the people who answer telephone polls are definitely _weird_. Usually, we can capture that weirdness using controls for demographic and political characteristics, but there are some big things that are different among the polled than non-polled. People who answer polls are much likelier to volunteer for political campaigns, for example, but also much more trusting of their neighbors (maybe that's why they pick up the phone in the first place?) and also go to the movies much more often than the people who don't pick up. This all makes them very "weird" indeed.
I've heard Ann Selzer claim that, in lieu of using a pollster-applied likely voter screen they just ask respondents whether they are likely to vote and believe them. Selzer nailed Iowa -- FWIW.
Yep, this kind of likely voter filter is actually more common than Selzer makes it seem.