PSCI 2305 EXAM 1 questions with
answers
1. What are the features and the definition of public opinion? -
CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Public Opinion= preferences of the adult
population on matters of importance to the government about issues,
candidates, parties, officials, groups
- Salience
- Intensity of Opinion
- Direction
- Stability
- Knowledge of Issues
- Visibility
2. What are salience, intensity, stability and direction in public
opinion? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Salience-how important is the
issue(can move from obscure to salience quickly
Intensity of Opinion-if people feel intensely about their opinion, they
are more likely to participate politically and officials re more likely to
listen to them
Stability-speed with which change occurs on opinion-presidential
popularity changes quickly;partisan identification changes quickly
,Direction-whether public opposes/approves of the job the president
is doing
3. Which group of people do politicians pay the most attention to in
elections? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Intensely motivated groups
like old people
4. What is agenda setting/framing/priming? How would these
mechanisms influence public opinion? - CORRECT ANSWERS
✔✔Agenda setting, framing, and priming helps politicians with
visibility mainly due to media coverage of their agenda
5. How can we properly conduct an opinion poll? What is selection
bias? During this polling process, what can we do to avoid selection
bias? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔By avoiding measurement error
Selection bias-the bias introduced by the selection of individuals,
groups or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization
is not achieved
In order to avoid selection bias, make sure the sample obtained is
randomized
6. What is self-selection bias? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Arises in
any situation in which individuals select themselves into a group,
causing a biased sample with non-probability sampling
, i.e. mail in polls=only those who read it and answered it would send
it back
7. What is likely to cause measurement errors and what will not in a
survey? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Causes
- question wording
- question order
- limited response options
Not
- proper wording and ordering of questions
8. What is sampling error, and what causes it? - CORRECT
ANSWERS ✔✔When poll results are unreliable due to the fact that
they are not representative of the population's views
- nonrandom sampling
- nonresponse bias
- response bias
9. What is the margin of error in a public opinion poll? - CORRECT
ANSWERS ✔✔It is the confidence interval, results will lie within
this interval, usually +/- 3 percentage points. People should have
equal chance of being selected
answers
1. What are the features and the definition of public opinion? -
CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Public Opinion= preferences of the adult
population on matters of importance to the government about issues,
candidates, parties, officials, groups
- Salience
- Intensity of Opinion
- Direction
- Stability
- Knowledge of Issues
- Visibility
2. What are salience, intensity, stability and direction in public
opinion? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Salience-how important is the
issue(can move from obscure to salience quickly
Intensity of Opinion-if people feel intensely about their opinion, they
are more likely to participate politically and officials re more likely to
listen to them
Stability-speed with which change occurs on opinion-presidential
popularity changes quickly;partisan identification changes quickly
,Direction-whether public opposes/approves of the job the president
is doing
3. Which group of people do politicians pay the most attention to in
elections? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Intensely motivated groups
like old people
4. What is agenda setting/framing/priming? How would these
mechanisms influence public opinion? - CORRECT ANSWERS
✔✔Agenda setting, framing, and priming helps politicians with
visibility mainly due to media coverage of their agenda
5. How can we properly conduct an opinion poll? What is selection
bias? During this polling process, what can we do to avoid selection
bias? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔By avoiding measurement error
Selection bias-the bias introduced by the selection of individuals,
groups or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization
is not achieved
In order to avoid selection bias, make sure the sample obtained is
randomized
6. What is self-selection bias? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Arises in
any situation in which individuals select themselves into a group,
causing a biased sample with non-probability sampling
, i.e. mail in polls=only those who read it and answered it would send
it back
7. What is likely to cause measurement errors and what will not in a
survey? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Causes
- question wording
- question order
- limited response options
Not
- proper wording and ordering of questions
8. What is sampling error, and what causes it? - CORRECT
ANSWERS ✔✔When poll results are unreliable due to the fact that
they are not representative of the population's views
- nonrandom sampling
- nonresponse bias
- response bias
9. What is the margin of error in a public opinion poll? - CORRECT
ANSWERS ✔✔It is the confidence interval, results will lie within
this interval, usually +/- 3 percentage points. People should have
equal chance of being selected
