Age Poll Working File - Part 1 of 2

Description

Accession[2013.0008] Papers of Irving David SaulwickIdentifierUMA-ITE-2013000800046Scope and ContentSAUL00046 Imposed title. Manila folder containing loose working notes, reference material, and correspondence; relating to administration of the Age Poll (including pricing and frequency of surveys), and to opinion polling more generally. 'Social Science Standing Committee (Post Secondary)' is typed on the reverse of the leading edge, however this title appears unrelated to actual contents. Due to the large volume of material, documents have been housed across two inventory items, SAUL00046 and SAUL00047. The manila folder is retained in SAUL00046.
Most documents in part 1 of file date from 1988-1989, with a small quanity of earlier material and undated papers also present.
Contents of part 1 include: lists of suggested poll topics compiled by Irving Saulwick and others; notes and drafts for poll questions; lists of topics covered in recent polls; examples of blank polling forms (questionnaires, interviewer coversheets); poll data tables; price list for poll questions (Reark Research rates); memo from Andrew Bunn (Marketing Research Manager at The Age) to Denis Muller (The Age) regarding data processing for Age Polls, including file corruption preventing publication of one set of poll results; enquiries regarding: polling methodology, purchase or use of poll data, and permission to reprint Age Poll data; ARC [Australian Research Council] proposal for funding to support research into 'Setting Policy Agendas', submitted by Bruce Heady and Mark Considine; 'Public Policy Agendas' handwritten list of opinion leaders, compiled by Saulwick; correspondence in relation to identifying causes and correcting systematic error (underestimation of conservative vote) in Age Poll Election Surveys; 'The Saulwick Poll: Costs and Benefits - a review of operations...' report by Denis Muller, Associate Editor at The Age.
Also includes correspondence to and from Irving Saulwick and: editorial staff of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers (Ian Hicks, Denis Muller, Max Prisk); academics; students; politicians; and others - for example: Jan Carter, Director of Social Policy and Research with The Brotherhood of St Laurence (child poverty); Gilbert Porter, President of the Free Beach Association Queensland (attitudes to nude bathing); Michael Clyne, President of the Australian Linguistic Society (language studies and usage). Also copies of some correspondence between newspaper staff.
Also includes various newspaper clippings, and the following items: Bruce Heady 'Distributive Justice and Occupational Incomes: Perceptions of Justice Determine Perceptions of Fact' [unpublished]; I.M. Ward and D.O. Verrall 'Opinion polls during the 1987 election campaign' Australian Journalism Review, Vol 10, 1988; William Grey 'Australia's Credulity Rating: Bad or Worse?' The Skeptic Vol 8, No 4, Summer 1988 [with attached letter from Saulwick to the Editor, responding to comments in the article]; Brian E. Richardson 'Newspaper Readership and Individual Estimation of Public Opinion: Do People Pay Attention to Poll Stories' paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mass Communication and Society Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Antonio, Texas, August 1987; Carroll J. Glynn and Ronald E. Ostman 'Public opinion About Public Opinion' Journalism Quarterly [publication date not recorded on photocopy].Access StatusOpen for public accessRequest TypeRequest unitUnit2013.0008 Unit 0007

Provenance

CreatorSaulwick, Irving D.RoleProvenance

Dates

Date3 January 1979-29 June 1989

Description Control

Previous System ID2013.0008.00046

University of Melbourne Archives

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Age Poll Working File - Part 1 of 2