February 25, 2005
US Cell Phone-Only Users Pose Problem For Researchers
They're mainly young, single and urban. They move frequently, usually renting rather than owning their homes. Pollsters call them "cell phone only" because they don't own traditional phones.
As this hard-to-track population grows, so does the problem of accurately incorporating them into polling and scientific surveys that seek to measure everything from health and business practices to political attitudes, reports the Associated Press
The industry has to deal with the cell phone issue while it's still manageable or it will be doing that research work when cell phones have become a problem for surveys - "and that's not a good practice," said Mike Brick, a statistician at Westat, which handles scientific surveys for the federal government."
Related articles on political polls:
-- Phone Choices May Affect Polls
-- Are younger voters flying under the pollsters' radar?
-- Conflicting polls add to election confusion
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