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An Overview of Standard Voter Contact Services Including Political Polling, Voter ID, GOTV, Pre-Recorded Messages and Advocacy or Persuasion Calling.
The
RTNielson Company has been a nationally recognized leader at voter
contact services including political polling, Voter ID, GOTV, and
pre-recorded message delivery since 1992. We have extensive practical
experience conducting political surveys at all campaign levels including
local, statewide, Gubernatorial, Congressional, Senatorial and National
elections.
Political polling is a fundamental tool of modern political campaigns.
It is a complicated and multi-faceted business. The purpose of the
following information is to explain the basic fundamentals of polling
and other voter contact services and to define the normal terminology
pollsters use. We hope that you find this information helpful.
Fundamentals of Polling
Political Polling is a process where a small group of qualified
voters are asked questions about an up-coming election. The answers
these people give are then used to make predictions about how a
larger group of voters will act in the future. The process works
because the voters in the small group represent a cross-section
of the voters in the larger group. The accuracy of the poll is influenced
by the sophistication of the survey questionnaire, the accuracy
of the data collection method used, and the number and random distribution
of the voters polled.
Polling Methods
There are many ways to conduct political polls: In person, by mail,
on the Internet or by telephone. Of these, telephone calling is
the preferred method of contacting enough qualified respondents
in a short period of time to produce a survey that is both statistically
accurate and affordable.
Political Polling versus GOTV
There are specific types of calls that occur during elections. Polling
calls are made for research purposes. GOTV calls are made to deliver
messages to voters. Some research companies make both types of calls
while others specialize in either polling or GOTV.
Closed Questions
Pollsters learn what voters think by asking them either closed or
open-ended questions. Closed questions give voters a specific list
of choices from which to select an answer. A simple closed question
might ask, for example, if a voter prefers candidate A or candidate
B. Such a question, to a pollster, has five possible answers: A,
B, undecided, neither or refused.
Open-ended questions
Open-ended questions ask voters to give an opinion about a specific
topic. For example, an open-ended question might ask, why do you
prefer candidate A? Open-ended questions have no predetermined answers,
therefore they take longer to complete over the telephone and the
responses are more difficult to tabulate once the survey is finished.
Pollsters classify open-ended responses into groups. This is called
"coding."
Polling Terminology
Advocacy Calls
These calls are similar to GOTV calls, but no questions are asked.
A positive message is delivered. The message is often pre-recorded
in the candidate's voice and delivered to answering machines. These
calls are often directed to undecided or swing voters.
Ballot Test
Ballot test questions compare different candidates running for a
given office and are often called "head to head" tests.
Banner
A banner is a complicated set of cross tabulations used to help
pollsters understand how voters responded to a particular survey.
Benchmark
Survey
Benchmark
surveys typically take place early in a campaign. These surveys
can have twenty-five to fifty or more questions and they often include
several open-ended questions. The survey asks such things as the
importance of specific issues, hypothetical ballot tests, demographic
matters, name recognition, an opponent's weaknesses or advertising
recall. The data that is collected is used to develop strategies
as the campaign progresses.
Brushfire Survey
A brushfire survey is similar to a benchmark only it is a smaller
study. These surveys can be made any time during a campaign, but
frequently take place after a benchmark has been completed. They
usually have some open-ended questions.
Call Center
Most political polling firms house all of their telephones and computers
in a central location known as a call center. The RTNielson call
center is located in downtown Salt Lake City. It has 350 CATI stations.
CATI
This is an acronym that means "Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing."
At the RTNielson Company we rely on computers to facilitate our
polling activities.
Completes
A completed survey occurs when an interviewer reaches a voter on
the telephone and the voter cooperates by answering all of the questions
in the survey. The total cost of a survey is partially calculated
by multiplying the number of completes required by the amount charged
per completed interview.
Cooperation Rate
Over the years, market research firms have determined how likely
people who reside in specified geographical areas are to cooperate
with telephone surveyors. The rate is designated as a percentage.
This rate is one of the factors used in pricing polls.
Cross Tabulation
This is where the frequencies of one question are compared to the
frequencies of another question. In a general political survey,
the demographic questions (gender, age, party, geography) are crossed
against the other questions in the survey.
Frequency
This is a term to describe the answers to a question. For example,
if we ask 100 people if they will vote for A or B or C, 25 might
answer A, 40 answer B, 20 answer C, 10 are undecided and 5 refuse
to answer. Those are the frequencies of that particular question.
GOTV
GOTV stands for Get Out The Vote. GOTV calls are generally twenty
to thirty seconds long. No questions are asked, but positive messages
are delivered either by a live caller or by a recording of the candidate's
voice. These calls are often made just prior to election day or
before another important event in the campaign.
Incidence Rate
The ratio between the number of people contacted and the number
who actually qualify to take a survey is called the incidence rate.
It is one of the main factors used in calculating how much a poll
will cost.
Interviewer
Interviewers are the people who do the calling, ask questions, leave
messages and collect data. All RTNielson Company interviewers receive
continual training and daily monitoring to improve and refine their
telephone skills.
Monitoring
Quality control is an essential part of political polling. Companies
gauge the quality, accuracy and reliability of their interviewers
by monitoring them during actual calls. We monitor every interviewer
daily and we make it possible for our clients to monitor our staff
when they believe it is necessary.
Power and Predictive Dialer
Modern political polling requires sophisticated equipment in order
to complete large scale calling projects. Many GOTV and advocacy
calling projects require a power and predictive dialer. These ultra-efficient
machines dial numbers and direct calls to available interviewers.
This equipment makes it possible to leave recorded messages in the
candidate's own voice and to record the answers voters make on open-ended
questions.
Pricing
The cost of a polling project involves many factors including the
number of completes required, the computer programming necessary,
the length of the script, the incidence rate, the cooperation rate
of the voters being called, and the amount of cross tabulation involved.
Programming
Computers play a vital role in political polling. Every poll has
to be carefully programmed into our computers so that our interviewers
have a precise script to follow and a reliable method of tabulating
answers to questions.
Questionnaire
Polling companies utilize scripts or questionnaires for their interviewers
to follow during a survey call. Most of our clients provide us with
their own scripts, but we offer questionnaire development services
to those who need it.
RDD
RDD means random digit dialing. Some surveys are conducted using
telephone numbers that are selected at random. RDD samples reach
a very broad spectrum of the populace.
Sample
Sample designates the group of people who are going to be called.
Clients often provide their own sample of registered voters obtained
from state party lists. We can also purchase samples (or lists of
names) from brokers. The sample can be targeted to reach the desired
cross section of the population at large.
Tabulation
This word means "data analysis." When a survey is conducted,
all the data that is collected needs to be organized (or tabulated)
into a format that makes the information easy to understand and
interpret.
Tracking Polls
Tracking polls are short surveys that are repeated using the same
questions (but calling different voters) to gain insight into how
particular issues or trends are moving within a campaign. Tracking
polls are often sold as packages of four or more surveys that are
repeated over the course of several days or weeks.
Voter ID
ID means voter "identification." Voter ID calls normally
have from one to eight questions. They often do not have open-ended
questions. The calls are made to a listed sample and sometimes ask
for a specific person within a household or maybe for any registered
voter. Normally no messages are left on voter ID calls. These calls
are often used to generate follow-up direct mail ads or GOTV calls.
Conclusion
Putting together a winning political campaign requires time, energy,
money and accurate research. The RTNielson Company believes in the
value of political polling, GOTV, voter ID, advocacy calling and
using targeted pre-recorded messages. We urge you to take advantage
of our considerable experience in all of these areas. There is no
charge for calling us. Whatever the size of your campaign, let us
know what you need done and we will gladly return a bid to you within
hours of the time you request the information. Call us at the following
numbers: (800) RTN-2WIN or (801) 359-1345
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