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I wouldn't make that assumption. Although in some ways the US political parties are more alike than not (center-right versus far right, for instance), one of the sharpest differences is in their exhibited degrees of sociopathy.

Organizations who make their living off of data from public opinion polls do good work - e.g., Gallup, Roper etc. Campaign surveys, interest group surveys, media organization surveys which come from these survey professionals who operate under the standards and social science norms established and supported by AAPOR are trustworthy. However, as Dude notes, not all organizations and political operatives do this. The good news is that it never lasts long because they get "outed" for doing it. The robo call or bad survey ends up in the press and they are embarrassed. It can still influence people though. Tends to happen less in lobbying settings because if you as an interest group give bad data to a politician or bureaucrat who then trumpets it and gets called out, the interest group will have damaged the relationship.

All that being said, most small institutions, like schools, think they can write surveys because they are unaware of how easy it is to write bad questions. There are so many ways, often inadvertent, which bias responses.

For the ipad original question - there are stock survey questions that can be found online which would allow more appropriate answers - plus there is also the fill in the blank question. Textbooks often highlight these types of bad questions with the classic - how often do you beat your dog - it does not allow the respondent to say you do not do it or have ever done it - particularly if a 0 answer is not provided

DeHe

Living in Iowa (first in the nation caucus) and being registered independent, I get a LOT of telephone polls both early and often. I have learned to appreciate an honest poll versus a stacked one. Though I do enjoy seeing how few questions it takes before I can figure out which party (and sometimes which candidate) has sponsored the poll.

-S.F.

This is not new to ipads but common with new technology. When my kids were in early elementary this is how the classroom computers were used. When kids were finished with their work, they could play "edutainment" games. The problem I see is that teachers don't really know how to USE this technology.

Hmmm, letting the early finishers play games seems like a quite effective way to "close the achievement gap".

Yes but I think it is marginally better than another 60 examples exactly the same as the ones already done. I could never understand why I couldn't go to school for a couple of hours, do the work and then go home.