Thursday, September 21, 2006
MCCD Poll – Who Has the Cross Tabs?
Tonight at a 7 PM meeting in the barn at Glacial Park the McHenry County Conservation District will unveil summary results of what I think is the most expensive and extensive political survey ever done in McHenry County.
It cost taxpayers $18,000 and surveyed 600 residents on 44 questions. Replies have been sorted by county board district and the larger townships.
Pretty interesting data, wouldn’t you agree?
But when I asked newly appointed MCCD Executive Director Elizabeth Kessler when the cross tabs would be available, I was told there were none.
(The map shows precinct-by-precinct results of the 2001 $68.5 million MCCD bond referendum, which squeaked through with a 51.3% majority.)
Cross tabs give more detail than the summary I have received through the Freedom of Information Act. They would tell, for example, whether the underserved third of McHenry County called Algonquin Township had opinions which differed markedly from the less populated part of the county.
I ran the cost, number of questions and size of the sample past my former political consultant Kevin Burnette and here’s what he said:(
I asked if the pollster was going to be at tonight’s meeting and was informed it would not be, that the MCCD staff had been briefed on the survey and would present it.
I have had two polls done in my political life and both times I talked to the pollster in person.
And both times I got cross tabulations.
Wikipedia says this about cross tabs:
"It was the longest most thorough complex set of questions I have ever been asked in a poll. For many of the questions, you had to think 30 seconds to figure out the precise meaning of the questions. They were really fine-tuning it. That should have generated a wealth of data,” my source says.
= = = = =
The map shows the precinct-by-precinct results of the 2001 McHenry County Conservation District bond issue. The blacker the precinct, the lower the percentage of votes cast in favor of the refendum. Conversely, the more yellow the precinct the higher the percentage of votes cast for the referendum.
It cost taxpayers $18,000 and surveyed 600 residents on 44 questions. Replies have been sorted by county board district and the larger townships.Pretty interesting data, wouldn’t you agree?
But when I asked newly appointed MCCD Executive Director Elizabeth Kessler when the cross tabs would be available, I was told there were none.
(The map shows precinct-by-precinct results of the 2001 $68.5 million MCCD bond referendum, which squeaked through with a 51.3% majority.)
Cross tabs give more detail than the summary I have received through the Freedom of Information Act. They would tell, for example, whether the underserved third of McHenry County called Algonquin Township had opinions which differed markedly from the less populated part of the county.
I ran the cost, number of questions and size of the sample past my former political consultant Kevin Burnette and here’s what he said:(
For that price, it) should be about a 40-question poll with cross tabs and the whole thing. Maybe a 50-question poll.I asked again about the cross tabs and he replied,
You’d have to have cross tabs for that amount.Burnette is now CEO of a direct marketing company and political consulting firm with offices in Houston and Austin.
I asked if the pollster was going to be at tonight’s meeting and was informed it would not be, that the MCCD staff had been briefed on the survey and would present it.
I have had two polls done in my political life and both times I talked to the pollster in person.
And both times I got cross tabulations.
Wikipedia says this about cross tabs:
(the tables) describe the distribution of two or more variables simultaneously. Each cell shows the number of respondents that gave a specific combination of responses, that is, each cell contains a single cross tabulation.Cross tabs are frequently used because:
1. They are easy to understand. They appeal to people that do not understand the more sophisticated measures.So, the taxpayers have paid for a major survey which one of my sources says took 25 minutes to complete.
2. They can be used with any level of data: nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio - cross tabs treat all data as if it is nominal
3. A table can provide greater insight than single statistics
4. It solves the problem of empty or sparse cells
5. they are simple to conduct
"It was the longest most thorough complex set of questions I have ever been asked in a poll. For many of the questions, you had to think 30 seconds to figure out the precise meaning of the questions. They were really fine-tuning it. That should have generated a wealth of data,” my source says.
= = = = =
The map shows the precinct-by-precinct results of the 2001 McHenry County Conservation District bond issue. The blacker the precinct, the lower the percentage of votes cast in favor of the refendum. Conversely, the more yellow the precinct the higher the percentage of votes cast for the referendum.
Labels: Cross Tabs, MCCD, McHenry County Conservation District, Survey
