‘Fish-and-Chip Intelligence’: Henry Durant and the British Institute of Public Opinion, 1936–63
‘Fish-and-Chip Intelligence’: Henry Durant and the British Institute of Public Opinion, 1936–63
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“鱼加薯条的情报”：亨利·杜兰特和英国民意研究所，1936-63
DOI：
10.1093/tcbh/hws012
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发表时间：
2013
影响因子：
0.9
通讯作者：
Mark Roodhouse
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mark Roodhouse
1937年，在美国“科学”民意调查开始一年后，盖洛普民意调查来到了英国。由亨利·杜兰特拥有和管理的英国民意研究所(BIPO)是盖洛普的第一个海外分支机构。尽管BIPO是一家盈利企业，但杜兰特经营这项业务的目的不仅仅是盈利。他真诚地相信民调具有推动政府和商业民主化的潜力。就像他的导师盖洛普一样，杜兰特没有达到他宣称的目标。抽样调查并不是“把脉民主”的精确工具。它包含着不可挽回的缺陷，使英国社会不对称部分的私人意见同质化，而商业压力迫使杜兰特在成本和质量、客户需求和最佳调查实践之间做出权衡。
In 1937, a year after ‘scientific’ opinion polling began in America, the Gallup Poll came to Britain. The British Institute of Public Opinion (BIPO), owned and managed by Henry Durant, was Gallup’s first overseas affiliate. Although BIPO was a profit-making concern, Durant operated the business for more than profit. He was a sincere believer in polling’s potential to democratize government and business. Like his mentor Gallup, Durant fell short of his stated aims. The sample survey was not a precision tool for ‘taking the pulse of democracy’. It contained irredeemable flaws that homogenized the private opinions of a skewed cross-section of British society, while commercial pressures forced Durant to make trade-offs between cost and quality, and clients’ needs and best survey practice.