Here's what our survey guru (former NORC person) said in response to this. Take it for whatever value you take from a thirdhand source:
=================== I checked with Survey Sampling, Inc., about two months ago, and the person there said they do not include any cell phone numbers in their samples. Af far as I know, nobody includes cell phone numbers in their samples. In all the legitimate phone surveys and polls, everybody is selected from a list of phone numbers. (The only way the interviewer knows your name is that you tell her.) The numbers are generated by computers, so many of them do not really exist. But companies like Survey Sampling make their living by guaranteeing that a large percentage do exist. As far as I know, all the exchanges that are used (e.g. 414-382) really do exist. But cell-only exchanges are not used in preparing samples. For example, the area code 917 is used only for cell phones, and nobody who has a 917 area code will ever get called for a poll. This is a bias that will need to be fixed, but as far as I know, it has not been fixed. Breslin is correct. Of course, most cell phone users also have landline phones, so they can be included in polls. =================== Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
