Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Chronicle Brodhead poll problems

Folks,

We have a mystery involving the publication at The Chronicle's online site of poll results of President Brodhead's handling of what the editors still call "the lacrosse scandal."

Below in Section 1 you'll find a post I started about noon when I saw at The Chronicle the poll results reported in Section 1.

A little after 1 P.M. I interrupted work on the post to check The Chronicle's link.

I then found a dramatically different set of poll results at The Chronicle.

I've pasted those second poll results into Section 2 below.

Following that is a copy of an email I'm sending Ryan McCartney, Chronicle editor-in-chief.

I'll keep you posted

John
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SECTION 1 ----

At The Chronicle's online site I found the following:

Current Question

How well did President Brodhead handle the lacrosse scandal?


Exceeded expectations --- 7%

He did the best he could have --- 11%

Not very well --- 50%

He bungled every aspect of Duke's responses --- 32%

This The Chronicle poll is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole.
Indeed, it's not scientific.

Still, I was surprised by how poorly the respondents rated Brodhead's handling of what I hope The Chronicle will soon stop calling "the lacrosse scandal." (Note to Chronicle editors - Try "the Duke Hoax" or "the Nifong scandal.")

Eighty-two percent of respondents said Brodhead hadn't handled things "very well" or
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SECTION 2 --- Poll results found at 1:15 P.M.
Current Question
How has President Brodhead handled the lacrosse incident?


Brodhead exceeded expectations --- 46%

As well as anybody could do --- 27%

Not very well --- 18%

Brodhead was terrible --- 9%

This The Chronicle poll is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole.
________________________________________________________

SECTION 3 - Email to Editor McCartney

Dear Editor McCartney:

If you take a look at this post:
http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2007/02/chronicle-brodhead-poll-problems.html

you'll see that within an hour I face-page printed two dramatically different sets of Chronicle poll results concerning President Brodhead's handling of "the lacrosse scandal."

Not only did the percentages differ dramatically but, in some instances, response stems did too.

I would appreciate you're looking into this matter.

I'll publish in full at JinC your response to my request.

Sincerely,

John in Carolina
www.johnincarolina.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

They must want to keep Brodhead at Duke. Fools they.

Thanks,JinC, for ALL of your blogs. Your thoughtful comments are something I look forward to.

Anonymous said...

Every time I've looked at that poll it's looked like Section II (i.e. Brodhead mostly approved.)

I didn't believe it. Also note that it's been bumped off the front page.

Anonymous said...

I am starting to pity you guys. That must be a cesspool you live and work in. My God! Aren't there any hard print people of integrity in your area? Not even students, who don't rely on advertising?

Anonymous said...

I believe that the Duke Chronicle finally fixed its poll to filter out the multiple votes reportedly being cast from IP addresses associated with the computers of certain Duke faculty members.

When these duplicate votes were eliminated, it revealed the underlying sentiments of those who had voted only once.

Which was... overwhelmingly critical of Brodhead.

Anonymous said...

I just checked the poll results and they are consistent with section 1