Comments | justben: The Dove Foundation: offensive phone interview techniques and offensive television

justben

The Dove Foundation: offensive phone interview techniques and offensive television

Jan 11, 2007 22:17

Tonight I got a call from the Dove Foundation. ( Things got suspicious real quick. )

Comments 20

starlancer January 12 2007, 04:23:34 UTC

Good grief, that's both sad and funny.

I never get that far. I very, very rarely ever get a call from a pollster or telemarketer, a combination of Vonage for my phone service and conscientiously joining every possible do not call list and calling ever credit card, but when I do, I never talk to 'em. Any, and I mean ANY, call that comes in without a caller ID that I recognize, I don't answer. Ever. Period. If it's important and they leave a message I will call back right away.

But this could have been almost fun.

justben January 12 2007, 05:29:40 UTC

I wouldn't have taken it myself -- I usually screen calls from numbers I don't recognize, too -- but it just came up on caller ID as Somewhereorother, MI, and I had this weird sneaking feeling that Nicole had an old friend from there or something.

starlancer January 12 2007, 06:22:12 UTC

I understand. Living alone, I can afford to be a lot more crotchety. ;-)

heofmanynames January 12 2007, 05:19:46 UTC

I got launched into an old-skool version of that polling style (sans the pre-recorded bits) during the '94 mid-term election returns. I was apalled by the bald-faced manipulative nature of the questions, the answer choices that could only distort my opinions, not discover them.

I don't take polls anymore.

justben January 12 2007, 05:33:06 UTC

The recorded stuff was what really galled me with this one. It took it the step from dirty political maneuver to carefully orchestrated public manipulation. Absolutely reprehensible.

I try to avoid taking them, too. I'll generally only do it if I'm tricked into it, or if I'm proving a point.

lonestar9 January 12 2007, 05:29:47 UTC

Wow...yeah, I don't think I could have made it that far myself, those kind of calls make me want to hang up quickly so fast, it's not even funny...:)
I took the poll from the website too, but it looks like the majority of my answers didn't 'jive' with the results they show. I'm shocked!! Hehe.
I've heard the name of this foundation...I think they are heavily associated with a local religous channel here, that I ignore, but I know it exists..

justben January 12 2007, 05:33:43 UTC

Who, if you don't mind sharing?

lonestar9 January 12 2007, 13:30:41 UTC

It's a Greenville, SC station..WGGS-TV, channel 16.

justben January 12 2007, 16:16:09 UTC

Thanks!

mr_z January 12 2007, 12:09:45 UTC

Push polling. Lovely.

Well, it's not quite as bad as implying that a white rival has an illegitimate black child, there's still no way this poll is impartial. I wonder who is asking for these specific results? The poll sounds like it's right up Focus on the Family's alley.

justben January 12 2007, 16:26:30 UTC

There's a subtle difference, though, between this and push polling. Push polling is designed to push an idea into constituents' heads and lead them to a particular vote. The actual results of a push poll are meaningless: the goal is to get an idea into the heads of voters.

The Dove Foundation, on the other hand, states quite clearly in their FAQ that the goal of their polling is to produce numbers to share with decision-makers like studio heads and national media. Their numbers are important, and they're crafting their questions carefully to elicit exactly the answers that they want to be able to report.

mr_z January 12 2007, 16:48:40 UTC

Fair enough. I admit I didn't read the Wikipedia page until after I posted my comment. Still, I imagine asking questions in this way would have some influence on the polled. :-) It obviously affected you in some way. :-)

wheezinggirl January 12 2007, 12:21:08 UTC

I got the same call from the same people about a week ago! She asked for the "lady of the house" so Matt handed them to me...thanks Matt!

They started with their first question and I interupted and said "I don't have children nor do I want children so I have no opinion on how television violence affects them and I am not interested in your poll".

I had a human that spoke at that moment and said I didn't need to have children to take the poll, but then I hung up. I find it hard to believe how I would be an effective subject when I couldn't care less about the topic.

justben January 12 2007, 15:55:48 UTC

You mean effective for a meaningful representation of relevant public opinion? Or effective toward their clear goal of pushing up their numbers?

wheezinggirl January 12 2007, 17:07:32 UTC

either way, actually. I am completely ambivilant towards the topic. I don't have opinions either way about whether there is too much violence or not. I just don't care.