>If any independent film-maker is plotting a satirical attack on the
>US occupation of Iraq, I'd suggest that the film's protagonist (or
>rather its straight man) be a hapless Iraqi surveyor employed by an
>American polling firm.
Gallup reports on its methodology page:
>The Gallup Poll of Iraq
>
>Sample Design
>
>The strict, probability-based sample design Gallup used to conduct
>this survey projects with scientific accuracy to all adults (aged 18
>and older) residing in Iraq, with the exception of those residing in
>the governorates of Arbil and Dahuk*. All 3,444 interviews were
>conducted face-to-face, in the privacy of the respondent's own home.
>For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence
>that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random
>effects is ±1.7 percentage points.
>
>Interviewing was conducted during the period of March 22 through
>April 2, with the exception of the governorate of Sulaymaniyah,
>where interviewing extended until April 9, 2004. The cooperation
>rate was 98% -- that is, only 2% of those households we contacted
>refused to be interviewed. The average interview length was 70
>minutes.
This can't be true, of course, since there's never 90% of anything.
Doug