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Public voting vs. secret ballot; which is better and why?

Which are better, public or private polls?

  • Public

    Votes: 6 23.1%

  • Private

    Votes: 10 38.5%

  • OTHER/IT DEPENDS

    Votes: 10 38.5%
  • Total voters
    26
Smeagol

Smeagol

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Here on DP polls may be set up where voters selections are secret or where votes are published along with each voters user name. As someone who works in a field where market research is conducted, polling data on consumer preferences is collected, I realize anonymity is important if ACCURATE feedback is desired.

Extreme example: ask 100 people do they ever secretly want to cheat on their spouse whether they plan to ever give into that temptation or not in a poll where respondents' identities will not be disclosed, I'd bet you would get double digits (at least 10%) saying yes. However, ask the exact same question to the exact same respondents in a poll where as a courtesy, a copy of their response will be emailed to their spouse, children, next door neighbor and church to be published in the church bulletin; I doubt there will be very many yes votes. I think this would be because whenever you publish the identities of voters as a condition of voting, you inadvertently change the intent of the voter from giving their honest feedback to maintaining their own image.

I always presumed people understood this but again, research is part of my job. We get polls, both public and private, all the time here. On a couple of occasions I've even seen posts expressing frustration that a poll is private and I've never understood that.

Which are better, public or private polls and why?
 
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It's kind of odd here because I think that guests can vote on anonymous polls, and you wouldn't know that they're guests. So if you just want the opinions of DP members, you could use an open poll and discard the guest results.

More often though, when someone posts an open poll, it's because they're looking for a Gotcha! moment.
 
Smeagol said:
Here on DP polls may be set up where voters selections are secret or where votes are published along with each voters user name. As someone who works in a field where market research is conducted, polling data on consumer preferences is collected, I realize anonymity is important if ACCURATE feedback is desired.

Extreme example: ask 100 people do they ever secretly want to cheat on their spouse whether they plan to ever give into that temptation or not in a poll where respondents' identities will not be disclosed, I'd bet you would get double digits (at least 10%) saying yes. However, ask the exact same question to the exact same respondents in a poll where as a courtesy, a copy of their response will be emailed to their spouse, children, next door neighbor and church to be published in the church bulletin; I doubt there will be very many yes votes. I think this would be because whenever you publish the identities of voters as a condition of voting, you inadvertently change to intent of the voter from giving their honest feedback to maintaining their own image.

I always presumed people understood this but again, research is part of my job. We get polls, both public and private, all the time here. On a couple of occasions I've even seen posts expressing frustration that a poll is private and I've never understood that.

Which are better, public or private polls and why?
Click to expand...

I think you may have missed the mark a bit here. Publishing the names of voters, but not their actual individual ballot/survey selections, causes no great harm (unless a ballot/poll choice was unanimous). It is the publishing of who selected what choice that makes "dishonest" answers more apt to be given, but also makes the poll results more reputable (easier to analyze) since the sampling is not "random" and associations between the lean (bias?) of the participants and the poll question result(s) can be better understood. Simply knowing that the poll was responded to by 70% X (conservatives, males or young) and 30% Y (liberals, females or old) helps but more can be learned if you also know which selections appealed to (or were disliked by) those in a particular group - and, in our political discussion forum, we seek to learn why that particular choice was selected.

The purpose of polls here is not to get scientific or random poll results but to better understand why certain beliefs are held.
 
I question (in question) answers your question.

Wishing whether to open ones self up to public scrutiny is always a factor.
 
molten_dragon said:
It's kind of odd here because I think that guests can vote on anonymous polls, and you wouldn't know that they're guests. So if you just want the opinions of DP members, you could use an open poll and discard the guest results.

More often though, when someone posts an open poll, it's because they're looking for a Gotcha! moment.
Click to expand...

I would like to know if, in fact, guests can vote in an anonymous vote before answering.
Generally, it depends on how truthful you are. Given general anonymity at DP, I suspect that members who are sincere will answer as such, while trolls and the like don't give it much thought.
 
As the individual identities of DP members is not a known or publicised fact (except for a few exceptions) I see no real difference between public or secret voting here.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
I think you may have missed the mark a bit here. Publishing the names of voters, but not their actual individual ballot/survey selections, causes no great harm (unless a ballot/poll choice was unanimous). It is the publishing of who selected what choice that makes "dishonest" answers more apt to be given, but also makes the poll results more reputable (easier to analyze) since the sampling is not "random" and associations between the lean (bias?) of the participants and the poll question result(s) can be better understood. Simply knowing that the poll was responded to by 70% X (conservatives, males or young) and 30% Y (liberals, females or old) helps but more can be learned if you also know which selections appealed to (or were disliked by) those in a particular group - and, in our political discussion forum, we seek to learn why that particular choice was selected.

The purpose of polls here is not to get scientific or random poll results but to better understand why certain beliefs are held.
Click to expand...

Here, the usernames of each member is listed under the each poll question indicating how they voted, not just that they voted.

As a BTW, I hardly ever participate in polls where how I voted is posted and personally do not consider the results of such polls to be accurate reflections.
 
Smeagol said:
Here on DP polls may be set up where voters selections are secret or where votes are published along with each voters user name. As someone who works in a field where market research is conducted, polling data on consumer preferences is collected, I realize anonymity is important if ACCURATE feedback is desired.

Extreme example: ask 100 people do they ever secretly want to cheat on their spouse whether they plan to ever give into that temptation or not in a poll where respondents' identities will not be disclosed, I'd bet you would get double digits (at least 10%) saying yes. However, ask the exact same question to the exact same respondents in a poll where as a courtesy, a copy of their response will be emailed to their spouse, children, next door neighbor and church to be published in the church bulletin; I doubt there will be very many yes votes. I think this would be because whenever you publish the identities of voters as a condition of voting, you inadvertently change the intent of the voter from giving their honest feedback to maintaining their own image.

I always presumed people understood this but again, research is part of my job. We get polls, both public and private, all the time here. On a couple of occasions I've even seen posts expressing frustration that a poll is private and I've never understood that.

Which are better, public or private polls and why?
Click to expand...

The only reason I make all my polls public is because this is the internet. No poll that is done on the internet is accurate unless it is public. The reason being it is quite easy to vote multiple times in the same poll. For example the polls here at DP. All you have to do to vote multiple times is to stay logged out and clear your cookies and revote. The site doesn't save IP's of anonymous people. And there are plenty of extreme partisans on various issues here that will do such just to try and make people believe that their way is actually the majority thinking on X issue. I learned all this after having only been here about 6 months.

Due to this there is a huge difference between calling up 100 people and getting their answers and being able to keep them anonymous vs online polling. In one there is a set amount of people that is being asked once and only once and they can only give one answer. In the other the question stays there until closed (if it even closes) and one person can vote thousands of times if they really wanted to, skewing the results.
 
If the OP is in reference to DP, then I say, public most of the time. People deserve at least a modest level of scrutiny for their beliefs. However, if revealing such info might bring harm to oppressed individuals--ex., any question referencing sexual orientation--then the poll should be anonymous.
 
Kal'Stang said:
The only reason I make all my polls public is because this is the internet. No poll that is done on the internet is accurate unless it is public. The reason being it is quite easy to vote multiple times in the same poll. For example the polls here at DP. All you have to do to vote multiple times is to stay logged out and clear your cookies and revote. The site doesn't save IP's of anonymous people. And there are plenty of extreme partisans on various issues here that will do such just to try and make people believe that their way is actually the majority thinking on X issue. I learned all this after having only been here about 6 months.

Due to this there is a huge difference between calling up 100 people and getting their answers and being able to keep them anonymous vs online polling. In one there is a set amount of people that is being asked once and only once and they can only give one answer. In the other the question stays there until closed (if it even closes) and one person can vote thousands of times if they really wanted to, skewing the results.
Click to expand...

I've never understood why this website allows for guests to vote. Every other internet forum I've ever been a part of requires you to log in to vote. Yes, in most cases, anyone can create an additional account, but doing so takes several more steps than just clearing the browser's cookies.
 
Phys251 said:
I've never understood why this website allows for guests to vote. Every other internet forum I've ever been a part of requires you to log in to vote. Yes, in most cases, anyone can create an additional account, but doing so takes several more steps than just clearing the browser's cookies.
Click to expand...

It's advertisement really. It allows new people to get to know the site and give a bit of input. Makes them feel more included. We've had several people join up for that very reason.
 
Smeagol said:
Here on DP polls may be set up where voters selections are secret or where votes are published along with each voters user name. As someone who works in a field where market research is conducted, polling data on consumer preferences is collected, I realize anonymity is important if ACCURATE feedback is desired.

Extreme example: ask 100 people do they ever secretly want to cheat on their spouse whether they plan to ever give into that temptation or not in a poll where respondents' identities will not be disclosed, I'd bet you would get double digits (at least 10%) saying yes. However, ask the exact same question to the exact same respondents in a poll where as a courtesy, a copy of their response will be emailed to their spouse, children, next door neighbor and church to be published in the church bulletin; I doubt there will be very many yes votes. I think this would be because whenever you publish the identities of voters as a condition of voting, you inadvertently change the intent of the voter from giving their honest feedback to maintaining their own image.

I always presumed people understood this but again, research is part of my job. We get polls, both public and private, all the time here. On a couple of occasions I've even seen posts expressing frustration that a poll is private and I've never understood that.

Which are better, public or private polls and why?
Click to expand...

If its a poll in the poll section then the polls should be public due to the fact non-members can vote and anyone can log off close their browser and open it to vote as many times as they want.If its in any of the sections then it doesn't matter if its private or public since only members can vote.

If you are talking actual polls to vote for elected officials and ballot issues then it should remain anonymous in order to protect voters against angry opponents.
 
As far as voting in a DP poll is concerned I have no issue with my name being attached to my vote. I have no reason to hide from what my belief is and if I didn't want anyone to know I would have just refrained from voting.

As far as national polls or elections are concerned my only issue is being solicited by campaigns or company's endlessly once my info is out there. As a result of my inbox being filled in the past I no longer participate in online or phone polls.
 
Lovebug said:
I would like to know if, in fact, guests can vote in an anonymous vote before answering.
Click to expand...

I just tried logging out and voting in this poll, and it let me do it, so I can confirm that it does let guests vote in anonymous polls.
 
Public, because I want to see who my enemies are so that I can have them smite to the ground!
 
Personally, I have no problem with anyone knowing my selections in any poll here on DP - I'm comfortable and confident in myself. That said, it's pretty clear that all of us here have a pretty high level of anonymity as it is on DP - I'm CanadaJohn so you know I'm in Canada and I'm John - otherwise, you basically know little or nothing about me - in fact, there's no guarantee I'm Canadian or John, although I am.
 
Kal'Stang said:
It's advertisement really. It allows new people to get to know the site and give a bit of input. Makes them feel more included. We've had several people join up for that very reason.
Click to expand...

Ah I see. I still disagree with it, but if it is the owner's decision, it is his/her/their decision.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Personally, I have no problem with anyone knowing my selections in any poll here on DP - I'm comfortable and confident in myself. That said, it's pretty clear that all of us here have a pretty high level of anonymity as it is on DP - I'm CanadaJohn so you know I'm in Canada and I'm John - otherwise, you basically know little or nothing about me - in fact, there's no guarantee I'm Canadian or John, although I am.
Click to expand...

Wow, I thought you were from Brazil. Shows you what I know. :2razz:
 
Smeagol said:
Here on DP polls may be set up where voters selections are secret or where votes are published along with each voters user name. As someone who works in a field where market research is conducted, polling data on consumer preferences is collected, I realize anonymity is important if ACCURATE feedback is desired.

Extreme example: ask 100 people do they ever secretly want to cheat on their spouse whether they plan to ever give into that temptation or not in a poll where respondents' identities will not be disclosed, I'd bet you would get double digits (at least 10%) saying yes. However, ask the exact same question to the exact same respondents in a poll where as a courtesy, a copy of their response will be emailed to their spouse, children, next door neighbor and church to be published in the church bulletin; I doubt there will be very many yes votes. I think this would be because whenever you publish the identities of voters as a condition of voting, you inadvertently change the intent of the voter from giving their honest feedback to maintaining their own image.

I always presumed people understood this but again, research is part of my job. We get polls, both public and private, all the time here. On a couple of occasions I've even seen posts expressing frustration that a poll is private and I've never understood that.

Which are better, public or private polls and why?
Click to expand...
In the specific case of DP, all polls are effectively private - all you reveal on a public poll is your username.

The difference between the private and public polls here on DP, however, is that you must log in to vote on a private poll, but any guest can vote on a public one - in fact you can vote multiple times as a guest, I think. This has been used to stuff public polls in the past, I believe.


If you're talking about RL polls, secret ballot is always the way to go - or at least, only the voter themselves should have the option to reveal their choices.
 
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