Citation

Link HC. Am. Psychol. 1949; 4(2): 52-52.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1949, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/h0063298

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This letter comments on Dr. Likert's letter (1948) about the election polls. Likert repeats the criticisms which have been most commonly made by other psychologists and polling students. These criticisms are: first, the inadequacy of the sampling; and second, the inadequacy of the methods used. There is a very simple and definite problem in validation, the actual election results being the criterion. However, this criterion cannot be applied against polls taken two weeks or more before the date of the election. The most obvious failure of the recent election polls is that they were not made during a time when they should have been made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)