I DISLIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE CRITICIZE ME UNFAIRLY. A. I OBJECT TO BEI...

60. I dislike it when people criticize me unfairly.

A. I object to being criticized unfairly.

B. I object to people criticizing me unfairly.

C. I object to people's criticizing me unfairly.

D. All the above

IX. Read the passage and the quetions or unfinished sentences. Then choose the answer A, B, C,

or D that you think fits best

A survey is a study, generally in the form of an interview or a questionnaire, that provides

information concerning how people think and act. In the United States, the best-known surveys are the

Gallup poll and the Harris poll. As anyone who watches the news during presidential campaigns

knows, these polls have become an important part of political life in the United States.

North Americans are familiar with the many "person on the street" interviews on local television

news shows. While such interviews can be highly entertaining, they are not necessarily an accurate

indication of public opinion. First, they reflect the opinions of only those people who appear at a

certain location. Thus, such samples can be biased in favor of commuters, middle-class shoppers, or

factory workers, depending on which area the newspeople select. Second, television interviews tend to

attract outgoing people who are willing to appear on the air, while they frighten away others who may

feel intimidated by a camera. A survey must be based on a precise, representative sampling if it is to

genuinely reflect a broad range of the population.

In preparing to conduct a survey, sociologists must exercise great care in the wording of

questions. An effective survey question must be simple and clear enough for people to understand it. It

must also be specific enough so that there are no problems in interpreting the results. Even questions

that are less structured must be carefully phrased in order to elicit the type of information desired.

Surveys can be indispensable sources of information, but only if the sampling is done properly and the

questions are worded accurately.

There are two main forms of surveys: the interview and the questionnaire. Each of these forms of

survey research has its advantages. An interviewer can obtain a high response rate because people find

it more difficult to turn down a personal request for an interview than to throw away a written

questionnaire. In addition, an interviewer can go beyond written questions and probe for a subject's

underlying feelings and reasons. However, questionnaires have the advantage of being cheaper and

more consistent.