CAPE (Push)

Evelyn Espinoza

PUSH POLLING

            The method on push polling was to create a survey and randomly call individuals to gather responses to analyze and bring awareness about our issue on pre-trial expansion. With the guidance of our professor Kubal we created a survey on the following website, catishack.com. Amongst our group we came up with about ten questions to inform and get an idea on both the knowledge and awareness about the social issue. We also included demographic questions to get an idea of who our respondents were and how that may have a correlation with answers.  We set up the survey to have multiple choice questions and open ended questions so respondents felt freely to state their opinions and had a platform to voice themselves in a more complex manner.

            Through the same website where we created the website we accessed the virtual dialer, randomly calling individuals and completing surveys with cooperative respondents.  I was actually excited for this part because I love talking to people. After a few minutes I was getting very anxious to get my first caller because I heard a lot of dial tone as calls weren't being answered and I got a few people who were confused, hesitant, or simply denied to participate in my survey. I must admit the rejection was a little discouraging but I didn't take it personally it just simply motivated me to find a willing respondent.  Each group spent about two hours push polling and completing surveys.
            From the analysis of the results overview, which is also accessed though the website, about 30% of the respondents knew about the prison realignment program while 55% were unaware.  When asked if they were aware that detainees awaiting trial affect tax payer dollars 85% of respondents knew this. When asked how individuals felt about individuals who are detained while awaiting trial, respondents replied by either being for it or completely against. One of the responses that stood out to me was the one that talked about the racial issue among detainees, one respondents response, "Majority of them are black or Hispanic low-come which is why they are not able to afford to be bailed out."

            On whether employees are exempt from termination if detained for a long time was a hit or miss as half of respondents answered true while the other half said false. Respondents gave their suggestions on solutions for detainees who can't post bail and some said that bail should be determined based on offense, have lower bail requirements, and opportunity to seek adequate representation. A little over half of the respondents who participated in the surveys identified with the Hispanic race, majority were females between 18 to 29 years old, and about 33% had a yearly income of less than 10,000.

            It was very interesting to uncover other individuals' knowledge on the issue and get a different perspective from their opinions and suggestions. I found the website to be a very productive tool and can see myself utilizing to create surveys and conduct push polls when conducting research. I can see myself creating more open-ended questions and probably adding more shocking statistics to alter public opinion on particular social issues.  I can definitely practice probing and empathizing to get more out of the surveys because instead of it just being question and answer I should make it more of casual conversation so the interviewee gets more comfortable and will be more willing to participate and have increased dialogue.