Citation

Cantril H. Am. Psychol. 1949; 4(1): 23-23.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1949, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/h0061232

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The author notes that some of the points in Myers' "Social Control of Opinion Survey Agencies" raise fairly serious charges (that Gallup is more of a propagandist than scientist, etc.) and others would require Supreme Court decisions. Any kind of regulation that would hamper people like Gallup and Roper so they would have to confine their operations to strictly "commercial" (non-publicized) work would also, of course, mean a most serious set-back to those who use their data and facilities for straight social science research and who work with them for technical improvements. The author argues that any implication that the "big three" pollsters lack integrity in their research is nonsense to those who care to find out what they are really doing. Current attempts of some academicians to set up themselves and their work as "scientific" while labeling Crossley, Gallup and Roper as rule-of-thumb operators is neither justified nor statesmanlike. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)