Blue Hen Poll to be distributed today

Beginning on March 16 and extending to April 13, the third annual Blue Hen Poll will be conducted at the university to find out how students feel about certain issues on campus. The poll is led by an independent-study class taught by political science professor David Wilson.

"We're going to measure satisfaction in different areas — Winter Session, behaviors and experiences, stress, expectations after graduation, political interest and voice, equality, media and President Harker's approval rating," he said.

Wilson said while the poll takes up a good chunk of class time, students also learn about the methods and importance of polling so they will be prepared to analyze the data from the Blue Hen Poll.

"It's important to have a voice, and one way is through polling," he said. "The class does all the analysis — it's one of the things the students learn about in class."

Wilson also said the class helped form the topics and questions but searched out advisement from the Student Government Association.

"We went to the SGA last fall and asked them to give us all the topics they'd like to see on the poll, and we asked the same thing of The Review," he said.

Last year the poll received responses from 1,010 respondents, and Wilson said he and the class are eagerly awaiting the day this year's results come back.

"My hope is that students take advantage of the opportunity to see what their peers think," he said. "I hope they appreciate this is a poll for students by students — our goal is to inform."

The poll will be useful information for many, Wilson said.

"It gives good, accurate information that students can use in any way they want, and administrators can use in any way they want," he said.

David Tusio, president of SGA, said it was important for his organization to get involved because it would tell them what students thought were important.

"Our number one mission is making sure students are involved at the university, and it's an opportunity to have students have a voice," he said.

Sean Burke, a senior taking Wilson's class, said he and the other students were careful in their wording of questions to keep the information accurate and unbiased.

"We're very meticulous about the order of the questions — we don't want any outside influence," he said. "It's all about working as a group and taking yourself outside the equation."

Burke said they are never sure how many students would take the poll.

"2500 students will be receiving the email to take the poll, and out of those we expect about 800 to take it, which is about 40 percent," he said. "But in the end, we don't know — polling is an art and a science."

"It's another tool for the toolbox," he said. "It's an opportunity to put theory into practice; sometimes not everything goes according to plan."

Frank Gonzalez, a junior psychology major who is also taking Wilson's class could not agree more, but also said the class fits his interest group as well.

"It's a huge advantage if you're applying to internships," Gonzales said. "This whole thing is pretty much right up my alley."

He said the class and professor Wilson have helped merge two of his interests as well.

"I was originally psychology and then I got into politics," he said. "Then I met David Wilson who said he was a political psychologist, which I had never heard of before."

The poll has gone through some changes since last year, Gonzalez said.

"We got some negative feedback about the broader questions like who they voted for," he said. "Last year we asked a lot about whether you consider yourself conservative or liberal. Those questions aren't there anymore."

Gonzalez said the class chooses the questions.

"We do a lot of discussing in class before we begin forming specific questions," he said. "The final decisions are made through our team, who are mostly political science majors, but also communication."

The poll, which will have between 50 to 70 questions with 20 seconds allotted for each, will also be one of the most comprehensive polls conducted on campus, Gonzalez said.

Particiapnts are chosen at random, he said. He said the students are asked to participate by email and there's a link in the email to the survey.

"Every student is thrown into a pool, or database. It should be between 800 and 1,000, which would be good because most polls done at this school don't nearly reach that mark," Burke said.