Activities per year
Abstract
In 1937, a year after ‘scientific’ opinion polling began in America, the Gallup Poll came to Britain. The British Institute of Public Opinion (BIPO), owned and managed by Henry Durant, was Gallup’s first overseas affiliate. Although BIPO was a profit-making concern, Durant operated the business for more than profit. He was a sincere believer in polling’s potential to democratize government and business. Like his mentor Gallup, Durant fell short of his stated aims. The sample survey was not a precision tool for ‘taking the pulse of democracy’. It contained irredeemable flaws that homogenized the private opinions of a skewed cross-section of British society while commercial pressures forced Durant to make trade offs between cost and quality, and clients’ needs and best survey practice.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 224-248 |
Journal | Twentieth Century British History |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 23 May 2012 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2013 |
Keywords
- social surveys
- public opinion
- Gallup
- opinion polls
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