I've been tempted many times in the past year to do my own poll over the phone, using randomly selected area codes and numbers. Although the sample size would be small (a couple hundred could be done in a day), I think it would show radically different results than what gets put out by MSM, and therefore, overshadow the "margin of error" (for example, if 90% of 200 randomly selected people answer a question the same way, I think that would be a pretty strong indicator, and would be so far over any margin of error as to be insignificant). I think if someone just tells people "I'm just an ordinary U.S. citizen conducting my own poll, can you help me for a minute or two?" would result in most people agreeing, and then just a few choice questions, along with some basic demographic info.
Yea, we need to do something along these lines, fellow NYanon. It probably needs to involve a few of us here, otherwise too many people would be skeptical if it was just one guy doing it all.
I've been tempted many times in the past year to do my own poll over the phone, using randomly selected area codes and numbers. Although the sample size would be small (a couple hundred could be done in a day), I think it would show radically different results than what gets put out by MSM, and therefore, overshadow the "margin of error" (for example, if 90% of 200 randomly selected people answer a question the same way, I think that would be a pretty strong indicator, and would be so far over any margin of error as to be insignificant). I think if someone just tells people "I'm just an ordinary U.S. citizen conducting my own poll, can you help me for a minute or two?" would result in most people agreeing, and then just a few choice questions, along with some basic demographic info.
Yea, we need to do something along these lines, fellow NYanon. It probably needs to involve a few of us here, otherwise too many people would be skeptical if it was just one guy doing it all.
Of course, the hardest part would be getting people to answer the phone, since a lot of people won't answer unless they recognize the number :)