Polling methodology?

Your survey questions are digitally recorded and fed into an automated computer phone-calling system that determines criteria like the order of your questions, how to ask them and more. Calls are then placed to randomly-selected phone numbers through an automated process that allows for appropriate geographic representation to correspond with your polling topic(s).

Our automated phone calls are usually made at times when people are likely home; specifically between the hours of 5pm to 9pm local time during the week. Saturday calls are made from 11am to 6pm local time and Sunday calls from 1pm to 9pm local time.

At the end of the calling cycle, the raw data is processed through a weighting program to assure there’s proper representation of respondents (age, race, gender, political party, and other factors). This is necessary because experience shows that there are re-occurring patterns in our society that can affect polling results (i.e. women answer the phone more than men, older people are home more, mature adults answer more than younger people, and rural and suburban residents typically answer the phone more frequently than urbanites, etc.).

For surveys of all adults, the population targets are determined by census bureau data.

For political surveys, census bureau data provides a starting point and a series of screening questions are used to determine likely voters. The questions involve voting history, interest in the current campaign, and likely voting intentions.

Pulse Opinion Research determines its partisan weighting targets through a weighting system that takes into account the state’s voting history along with national trends, among other criteria.

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Any restrictions on what I can poll about?

We will not poll subject matter that we deem explicit, lewd or otherwise inappropriate. In addition, Pulse reserves the right to decline a poll that is requested for a locality where we deem the population to be too small to generate an adequate survey sample. As a general rule, the total population of a survey area should be at least 100,000 or more to generate an adequate sample.

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Custom surveys?

The Pulse website is designed with polling templates that suit the needs of most of our clients and are built to survey likely voters or adults, and the listed pricing only applies to these types of polls. We encourage you to utilize one of these existing templates as they have the benefit of being both the most economical and have the shortest turn-around time for you. However, If you cannot fit your survey into one of the site options (i.e. you need to survey only Republicans or only women, and not all adults or likely voters), then we do offer the option of a custom survey. To inquire about pricing and delivery times on custom surveys, go to the Contact Us page and submit your requirements and/or questions. We will respond with a quote.

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How much does it cost to do a poll?

The cost of your poll directly corresponds with the level of survey complexity you choose. Please consult our rate card. Note that different rates apply to surveys conducted in North Dakota and Indiana. Contact us for more information.

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