...In recent years, poll results have become increasingly inaccurate. According to an online article in US News, public opinion polls have garnered up a few but big-time fails. Public opinion polls were once the infallible cornerstone of the political system. What has caused their decline in accuracy? Many political experts believe that cell phone use is the reason. Michael Traugott, a University of Michigan political science professor who specializes in polling and opinion surveys lists an another reason."People are leading more active lives, and they're harder to locate,"said Traugott. "People would rather text, make calls or perhaps play another round of Candy Crush Saga than spend up ten minutes or longer for an interview with an organization they might not know and a survey whose content might be unclear." And as the diversity of the...
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...Assignment: Bias, Rhetorical Devices, and Argumentation Assignment: Bias, Rhetorical Devices, and Argumentation The” Citizen Kane” speech given by Charles Foster Kane in 1941 campaigning for Governor is full of bias. The bias starts from the very beginning of his speech by addressing his audience, attacking his opponent by using various fallacies of incorrect argument. First he begins with attacking “boss Jim W. Getty and his political machine” one example or another, where he is saying “There is only one man who can rid the politics of this State of the evil domination of Boss Jim Getty’s.” The tactics that are used here are for the reason of making himself to look better and stronger, in his point of views and political plan. This fallacy is called scapegoating, when you putting the blame for the problems on the opponent’s convictions and building confidence in the listeners. Kane in this example also uses Ad Hominen, which is where the candidate is verbally attacking his opponent rather than the argument. There is an example of gender and age bias: “The working man and the slum child know they can expect my best efforts in their interests.” Kane is indicating that men are the only ones working and that all the children are slum. Kane makes a statement about “the decent, ordinary citizens know that I’ll do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged, the underpaid, and the underfed.” In my opinion I believe, that this could be a begging the question...
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...Talles Cypreste Busn Research Methods Section 4 11:30 class Q1) A Washington Post article reported on a study about alcohol consumption and cancer in women. Since 1996, a team of British researchers has been gathering detailed information from 1.28 million aged 50-64. The researchers recorded how much alcohol them women reported consuming when they volunteered for the study and again three years later. The researchers then examined whether there was any link with the 68,775 cancers the women developed over an average of the next seven years. They found that even among women who consumed as little as 10 grams of alcohol a day on average (the equivalent of about one drink), the risk of cancer of the breast, liver and rectum was elevated. a) Is this an experiment? Explain your answer. b) We would prefer a sample survey to using women who volunteer for a study. What population does it appear that the researchers were interested in? What variables did they measure? A) The research is not considered an experiment. It is more likely to be considered an observation perhaps or an observational study. The sample is women who have already been drinking and been suffering from cancer B) The variable that were measured was the ratio of women getting more sever cancer because of the alcohol to the ones who weren’t getting it as sever Q2) What is the best way to answer each of the questions below: an experiment, a sample survey, or an observational study that is not a sample survey...
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...The three presidential debates during this 2012 election were in the very least, good television. It is clear that these presidential debates do not accomplish much, but it is also clear that they can play a factor into the poll numbers. The debate at the University of Denver on domestic policy and the town meeting formatted debate at Hofstra University had similarities and vast differences and both certainly played a factor in the polls. In the world of politics, domestic policy can be defined as the most important issues to a nation, and the debate that the incumbent president must win. The debate was split into several 15 minute segments to discuss specific issues and by the second segment it became rather difficult to merely pay attention to what the President was saying. Having strong facts and evidence comes second to eloquence and style in these debates. President Obama was very withdrawn and lacked confidence as he was speaking the whole night. The President lacked eye contact with both the audience and Governor Mitt Romney as the governor spoke and would instead look down at the podium. From purely auditory and visual perspectives, Romney was bold and confident while Obama was weak and awkward. The moderator of this debate, Jim Lehrer, for the most part made sure to stay unbiased. Lehrer, however, did a rather poor job of managing the time allotted for both candidates to speak. In fact, there were times during the night in which we might as well have not had a moderator...
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...PS1010: Study Guide for Exam 3 Winter 2015 1. Which of the following thinkers is often credited with first coming up with ideas about the modern bureaucracy? a. Thomas Hobbes b. John Locke c. Max Weber d. Alexander Hamilton e. Benjamin Franklin 2. Bureaucracy is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT: a. Merit-based advancement b. Hierarchy c. Worker specialization d. Explicit rules e. Flexible goals 3. The value of explicit rules in bureaucratic institutions is that they: a. Facilitate individually tailored treatment of citizens b. Allow for flexibility c. Encourage creativity d. Create standardization and predictability e. Reduce uniformity of behavior 4. A clear chain of command with all employees knowing who their supervisors are as well as whom they are responsible for is an example of a(n): a. Issue network b. Merit system c. Hierarchy d. Spoils system e. Iron triangle 5. Bureaucracy is useful for all of the following EXCEPT tasks that: a. Require a great deal of coordination b. Require a great deal of planning c. Require a great deal of expertise d. Can be handled on an ad hoc basis e. Require a great deal of routine work 6. The practice in which successful party candidates reward political supporters with jobs or favors is known as: a. Patronage b. Pandering c. Pay-for-play d. Lobbying e. Nepotism 7. The civil service replaced the _________ as a method of choosing government workers. a. Merit system b. Hereditary...
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...in a diagram, Chapman’s argument can be visualized as: The argument presented by Chapman is a compelling one because the premises given are believable and presented with supporting statistics, witness statements and passionate exclamations by Chapman himself. Upon closer inspection curious readers may begin to wonder what Chapman didn’t include in his argument. P9-Drugs aren’t for most people Chapman provides a series of claims to support P9. One such claim which was generated by a poll sponsored by the Drug Policy Foundation resulted P5. What this statement is really saying is that of those who claimed to never have used cocaine before, 1 percent admitted to wanting to try it if it were legalized. Several issues exist with accepting this claim as is. Firstly, we don’t know if the poll is a representative sample of Americans. Chapman doesn’t inform the reader of this particular background information from the poll and the reader is left to wonder who was included in the poll, the size, location, and...
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...When it comes to constructing public opinion I side with the affirmative that mainstream media does have a liberal, leftist bias. This media which includes major traditional mainstream news networks and newspapers have had a long standing liberal bias. In the video that was viewed in class, which was made in 2001 the author Justin Lewis was even claiming that the media had been very heavy left bias in the years past. It has only continued to increase for the liberal bias throughout the years. This can be seen by not only the coverage, but also by the past publicly expressed of political opinions of most major reporters, anchors, producers, etc. The dictionary defines a liberal as a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties. It also defines a leftist as an outlook or specific position that accepts or supports social equality, often in opposition to social hierarchy and social inequality. It usually involves a concern for those in society who are disadvantaged relative to others and an assumption that there are unjustified inequalities, which right-wing politics views as natural or traditional that needs to be reduced or abolished. In this paper I will affirm the argument that is made by Mr. Lewis in favor...
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...COM 220 Week 1 Assignment Throughout the introduction and speech there are examples of fallacies, rhetorical devices, and bias. The first example of bias is delivered when introducing Kane. The campaigner introducing Kane refers to “the evil domination of Boss Jim Gettys,” this clearly indicates bias in favor of Kane, and also is an example of the ad hominem fallacy by attacking Jim Gettys rather than his arguments. The campaigner also uses the scare tactics and the false dilemma fallacy when he states “There is only one man who can rid the politics of this State.” There surely could be more candidates than Kane, and his use of fear to try to scare voters into voting for Kane. Kane commits ad hominem fallacy when stating “to point out and make public the dishonesty, the downright villainy, of Boss Jim W. Gettys political machine.” Kane is clearly attacking Gettys rather than is arguments. Kane uses the false dilemma fallacy presenting two choices as the only choices available when he states “Now, however, I have something more than a hope. And Jim Getty’s, Jim Gettys has something less than a chance. Every straw vote, every independent poll shows that I’ll be elected.” Kane continues with the apple polishing fallacy by appealing to the crowd’s vanity in an attempt to persuade them to vote for him when he states “The decent, ordinary citizens know that I'll do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged, the underpaid, and the underfed.” Examples of rhetorical...
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...Walker Letter I killed a man, it’s true. I’d do it again, if I had the chance. He was running his big black lips about things he shouldn’t. Me and the fellas took a pipe to his head, he didn’t stand a chance. Ever since they let these boys run around free, they just think they can do whatever they want and not face any consequences. Well, we showed him. They want to put me on death row. They say that my crime was “heinous” and “cruel”. It’s been a long time I’ve been behind these bars, waiting for the government to make up its mind. I’ve been doing a lot of reading since and I’ve learned a whole lot about our justice system. I’ve been able to put my mind at ease, seeing what could be in store for me. I found this guy named Walker. He talks a lot about racial inequality and the idea that our justice system is racist, skewed in the favor of white men, specifically for the death penalty. He talks about the 1972 case of Furman v. Georgia which the United States Supreme Court declares that death penalty is unconstitutional on account of how it’s being administered at the time. This causes death rows across the country to empty out, and no one being fed back into the system to replace them. It was thought to be a precursor to abolishment of the death penalty, but that wasn’t the case. No, the Supreme Court decided instead to require many states to create new statutes which were to prevent discriminatory sentencing to death based on race. This resulted in two different...
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...church in a more liberal way regarding issues, such as birth control and same-sex marriage. The statistics is based on the latest New York Times/CBS News telephone poll conducted on landlines and cellphones from February 23 to 27 with 1,585 adults nationwide. Three-fourths of interviewers thought Pope Benedict should step down because he did a bad job dealing with sexual abuse. The poll suggested that many American Catholics are not confident about the church’s hierarchy since the bishops and cardinals do not understand their needs. The sample of telephone poll was randomly selected to ensure that each region of the country has almost same share of all telephone numbers, so it seems justified geographically. However, there is uncertainty in the survey because the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4% for the 580 Catholics. An effective way to reduce the margin of error is to increase the sample size. There is also nonresponse error in the survey because some people do not answer calls from strangers, or refuse to answer the poll. In addition, due to selection bias, the opinions of those who agreed to be interviewed only reflect a certain part of the population. The article did well in analyzing from a series of data, mainly on the percentage of sample size. For example, the poll showed that 40 percent thought the pope is absolutely right in teaching moral issues, 46 percent disagreed, and 14 percent were not sure. It suggested that the papacy does...
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...The question now is does mass media such as newspapers, television, and the internet affect the voting trends of the voters? The ownership of the media (Djankov, Nenova, McLiesh, & Shleifer, 2003), targeting specific demographics (Clinton & Lapinski, 2004), the implications of the internet (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Neuman, & Robinson, 2003) and how candidates use media (Aarts & Semetko, 2003) are all important aspects in determining whether a potential bias exists (Eveland & Shah, 2003) on the part of the news media. It is hypothesized that when the mass media displays certain biases leaning towards one party over the other, the populace tends to vote in the direction of the media. The following five scholarly literature reviews will attempt to demonstrate and support the hypothesis. According to Eveland and Shah (Eveland & Shah, 2003, p. 101)there is “a large percentage of the public (that) believes that the news media are biased, and the majority of these individuals consider the direction of bias to be against their own viewpoint”. This drives the question this paper attempts to answer. This article looks at media’s credibility and integrity in the eyes of individual people. The author’s give several hypothesis to provide multiple angles at which to look at the issue of the perceived hostile media bias’s. Aarts and Semetko offer a different look on media and voter trends. They research how on one side, media uses “diminishing knowledge and involvement...
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...probably full of people that are at home during the same time in the day, and it would allow the residents to share their personal preferences about the subdivision. Also, because there is not a standard set of desired answers, the telephone interview would be the most effective data collection method. When compared to either personal interviews or mail self-administered surveys, the use of telephones brings a faster completion of a study, sometimes taking only a day or so for the fieldwork. When compared to personal interviewing, it is also likely that interviewer bias, especially bias caused by the physical appearance, body language, and actions of the interviewer, is reduced by using telephones. Finally, behavioral norms work to the advantage of telephone interviewing. If someone is present, a ringing phone is usually answered, and it is the caller who decides the purpose, length, and termination of the call. b A poll of students at Metro University on their preferences among three candidates who are running for president of the student government. The College students in their preferences among three student government candidates could be best suited to a self administered survey through an email or web based survey. This is because all that it needed is what...
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...Media Bias American National Government After reading the article “Report from the Ombudsman” from Brill’s Content (ccis.ucourses.com/content) solidified the thoughts I had on the media being biased in their views. To get the truth you have to watch at least three different news channels and then research multiple sites on the Web. The ten simple questions he discussed in the article will make deciding if the content being reported is worth listening to. One of the key issues I see with journalists is they have their own agendas and are not secure enough in their position to have it questioned or debated on television. They are quick to attack their “opponent” with a barrage of unchecked fact-based questions and will not allow their victims a proper platform to respond. If the conversation is not going the way they want it to they will simply “run out of time” and go to a commercial break. Journalists say they are just doing their jobs and want the truth, but I know it’s merely for ratings and pushing their agenda. In researching the two websites listed in the content area, the Media Research Center (MRC) and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), I’ve come to the conclusion that there will always be bias in today’s media. The MRC is a pro Democratic website looking for biased media content that favor the “Right”, with FAIR doing the same for the “Left”. One New York Times article written by Neil Irwin was up for debate on FAIR’s website. The article was titled...
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...Times/CBS News Poll.This represents a shift in public opinion, advocates for climate change are hopeful that the paris talks could be a turning point. Poll Results • 63% of Americans including a bare majority of republicans support domestic policy limiting carbon emmisions from plants • 75% of Americans polled said global warming was already having a serious environmental impact • Nine to Ten democrats agreed , compared 58% of Republicans • One third of republicans said it will never have an impact • 50%of all Americans said the government should take steps to restrict drilling ,logging and mining on public lands, compared to 45% who approved restrictions. • Among democrats support for limiting mineral extraction on public lands rose to 58% • One out 5 Americans favored increasing taxes on electricity as a way to fight global warming • Six in ten opposed, including 49% for Democrats • 36% support increasing taxes to curb global warming • 51% of respondents worried about global warming • Among adults under 30 the number of adults it was 30% it was 54% for democrats • 68% of respondents under 30 supported taxing companies and fewer ¾ of democrats • 54 % as opposed to 34 % believed a sacrifice must be made to protect the environment • In 2007 52% supported protecting the environmentas opposed to 34% for the economy. The poll was conducted nationwide from 18-22...
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...if the death penalty is abolished because abolishing the death penalty is their mission. Ryan Hanschens blatant use of rhetoric is obvious when he states for his argument, “How can we call ourselves the land of the free with a straight face while remaining one of the only first world countries that still executes its citizens?” Also his bias is apparent when he states, “we must end this vicious practice of capital punishment in the United States.” Included in the article is a University of North Carolina study that shows that the odds of minorities receiving a death sentence rose 3.5 times among those defendants whose victims were White, indicating a bias against minority defendants. However, this study did not provide data indicating the percentage of crimes committed by minorities vs. the crimes committed by Whites, so the validity of the University of North Carolina study is not complete and warrants more data to be a reliable source. Also in this article, published in 2004, a Hart research poll of police chiefs in the United States believes that the death penalty is not an effective law enforcement tool. The reliability of this poll is in question because it was conducted in...
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