VOL.27 NO. 1  APRIL 2004       ISSN 0160-4201

Polling the Nations
ORS Publishing
http//poll.orspub.com

There are currently 350,000 statistics gathered from 14,000 surveys on this Web site, aptly titled Polling the Nations.  Not only is the United States represented in these surveys, but information also comes from 80 other nations.  The 700 organizations that have conducted these polls include reputable and well-chosen names such as the Associated Press, Reuters, and Zogby International.  Thankfully missing from this database are surveys in which respondents decide to include themselves in a sampling.

All such non-scientific viewers’, listeners’ and Web polls have no place here.  The surveys stretch from 1986 to the present – not just a hopeful ideal.  I searched by date and found useful information about the current presidential elections that was less than one month old.  The breadth and number of topics covered is dizzying.  When one searches the topic list under the letter S, not only do names of people (Sanders, Bernie), places (Scotland), and events (September 11 Attacks) scroll by, but also items as diverse as Satellite Dishes, Satan, Scandal, School Prayer, Sex Education, Sidewalks, Snorkeling, Spam, and Spying.

What makes this database stand out is the detail of each record including the exact language of the question asked, the organization responsible for it (including its address), the size of the sample, notes on the sampling, and even the method employed when gathering the information.  This data makes interpretation of the statistics clear.  When watching television news, we often can’t be certain about the nature of statistics being quoted, and we wish for the kind of background information that this site features.  The credentials behind the research also make this database helpful to students in statistics classes who struggle with their own construction of questions.  This resource has many different applications, including traditional social studies and history classes as well as forensics activities and model Congress and United Nations teams.

The site’s interface is straightforward with a healthy amount of online help for how to search efficiently.  It does require sufficient and is not forgiving to the casual user who just wants to throw in a few keywords to see what can be found.  Polling the Nations considers itself as the “ultimate survey database,” and I would have to say that they are correct.  It’s a very useful addition to the online reference collection.  (Subject to number of users, prices start as low as $247.)

Kathleen Meulen is the Head Librarian at Marymount School of New York in New York City.  In addition to teaching her students how to be discerning users of information found on the Internet and in more traditional sources, she maintains a library Web site as their portal to good information: http://www.marymount.k12.ny.us/marynet/library.