A 'poll' of Poles?
- 14 Sep 06, 03:34 PM
When is a poll not a poll?
Well probably when it's a survey.
On last night's Ten O'Clock News Evan Davis presented the findings of his survey of a few hundred Polish migrants living in the UK (watch the report here).
The Poles questioned thought we Brits are lazy, friendly and eat terrible food. They also revealed that many of them are earning less than the minimum wage, they often share bedrooms and are generally hostile to the prospect of a new wave of migrants from Romania and Bulgaria. (.)
All undeniably interesting, but not a poll. There are all sorts of rules governing official opinion polls, such as sample size and selection. So what are we to do? Call it a Survey of Poles? Surely not. Did we have any realistic choice? Surely it had to be called a Poll of Poles. What would you have done (honestly)?
We did obviously make it clear that this wasn't a scientific poll - in fact Evan called it in his inimitable way, a "straw poll of Poles". My guess is that our viewers shared Evan's sense of humour.
Daniel Pearl is deputy editor of the Ten O'Clock News
In the virtual world, we looked at one woman who'd always harboured a thwarted ambition to sing and was now playing to sell out virtual crowds in the 'Second Life' game. In her second life her ambition was realised. Some of the 650,000 people 'living' in this particular virtual world were even making a virtual, and, in some cases, real living in the 'game'. One woman was selling virtual shoes in the game and making real money. Soon you'll be able to buy the real versions of her virtual shoes. A real living out of an imaginary world.
