The Rhetorical Use of Random Sampling
Crafting and Communicating the Public Image of Polls as a Science (1935-1948)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4004258 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dominic Lusinchi (0000-0002-6956-2349, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 113-132 |
| Publication date | 2017-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5061 • E-ISSN: 1520-6696 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/jhbs.21836 |
| PMID | 28191910 |
| OpenAlex | W2588019379 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 46 |
The scientific pollsters (Archibald Crossley, George H. Gallup, and Elmo Roper) emerged onto the American news media scene in 1935. Much of what they did in the following years (1935-1948) was to promote both the political and scientific legitimacy of their enterprise. They sought to be recognized as the sole legitimate producers of public opinion. In this essay I examine the, mostly overlooked, rhetorical work deployed by the pollsters to publicize the scientific credentials of their polling activities, and the central role the concept of sampling has had in that pursuit. First, they distanced themselves from the failed straw poll by claiming that their sampling methodology based on quotas was informed by science. Second, although in practice they did not use random sampling, they relied on it rhetorically to derive the symbolic benefits of being associated with the "laws of probability
Art · Legitimacy · Literature · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Polling · Public opinion · Public relations · Rhetorical question · Sampling (signal processing · Sociology · American History and Culture · Computer Science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Philosophy and History of Science
The decline of popular politics
The Wizard of Washington
Fundamental Development of the Social Sciences
Theoretical sociology
Profession of medicine
Polling as Ritual
The Measure of Democracy
Survey Research in the United States
Outsiders Studies in the Sociology of Deviance
Fifty Years of Survey Sampling in the United States
The Polls and Public Opinion; The Iowa Conference on Attitude and Opinion Research Sponsored by the State University of Iowa, Iowa City
Straw Poll Journalism and Quantitative Data
George Gallup and the rhetoric of scientific democracy
Origins of the Ideal of Objectivity in the Professions
The Measurement of Public Opinion
News, Culture and Public Life
Representative Sampling and Poll Reliability
Recent Developments in the Straw-Poll Field
The Changing Climate for Public Opinion Research
Report on the Analysis of Pre-Election Polls and Forecasts
Straw Polls in 1936
Area Sampling or Quota Control?-Three Sampling Experiments
Area Sampling--Some Principles of Sample Design
American Institute of Public Opinion-Surveys, 1935-38
The Statistical Turn in American Social Science
The 1928-1936 Partisan Realignment
Public Opinion and Public Opinion Polling
A gold mine and a tool for democracy
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,63 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2025 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |