(I hope Marc Turner approves of my header)
We seem to be having a Bishop's moment on TIPS, as I reply to the
comments of my colleague, Stuart Mckelvie, who wrote:
>
> I find the voting thread very relevant to psychology and the case
> can serve in the classroom. I refer to the issue of standardization
> in testing - i.e., the requirement that when people answer a
> questionnaire, they should do so under conditions that are as
> uniform as possible. I did not realize that the ballot form and way
> of responding varied across the U.S. In Canada, as far as I know,
> voting slips for federal elections are the same everywhere (and we
> write a mark in the appropriate circle opposite a name).
Here in Quebec, we've had a problem of another sort. In our last
referendum on whether Quebec would separate from Canada (we have
so many they're known as neverendums), the outcome was very
close. It turned out that in certain voting districts in Montreal
an unreasonably large number of ballots were rejected. On
examination, it turned out that although the voter's intentions
were clear on the rejected ballots, they were nevertheless
disqualified for such trivial reasons as a mark extending
slightly outside the box. Unsurprisingly, it turned out that this
very high standard for correctly marking a choice was only
enforced in districts where there were many English-speaking
voters, and who massively voted "no" on separation. Thus, almost
all the rejected ballots were "no"s. So not only is it important
that the ballots be uniform, but that the method of counting them
be uniform as well, across as well as within districts.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
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