DELIBERATIVE POLLS - TOWARD IMPROVED MEASURES OF INFORMED PUBLIC-OPINION

New research techniques have recently been developed to gather measure s of public opinion that is better informed or more deliberative than that recorded in typical mass opinion surveys. These techniques includ e deliberative polls, educational surveys, and citizen planning cells. In view of what they set out to accomplish, what can we say from a sc ientific perspective about the utility of these methods? How are we to best interpret the data they produce? To address these questions, thi s paper reviews several of the most prominent and well-developed examp les of deliberative or educational polling. We argue two main points. First, these new methods of assessing public opinion must be evaluated in terms of specific quality criteria that apply to different phases and/or participants in the democratic decision making process. Some te chniques attempt to maximize several distinct qualities at once, makin g it difficult to identify specific objectives for evaluating success. Second, at least five important core methodological elements of educa tional or deliberative polls can be identified, each of which can theo retically alter results. To date, however, data bearing upon the effec ts of these methodological elements are in limited supply. Lack of kno wledge: about how method influences individual and collective opinion outcomes thus renders several of these techniques problematic.