About the Presentation:

When polls are wrong, especially polls involving presidential elections, the media pounce – as if predicting the future is child’s play.  It’s not.  This presentation looks under the hood of election polls.  It explores the challenges that confront even veteran pollsters and why “getting it right” is difficult.  Many of these challenges are shared by the broader research community, by those who measure opinion and inform decisions for corporations, non-profits, and government agencies.  In short, election polls have much to teach us about opinion research.

About the Speaker:

Marty Saperstein, Ph. D., Born in Queens, New York, arrived in Columbus in 1974 to begin graduate studies in political science at The Ohio State University.  In 1980, he established Saperstein Associates, an opinion research firm with clients in both the public and private sectors.  He has been there ever since.

The importance of making effective, data-driven decisions has never been greater. The pace of change is faster than ever, competitive pressures are a ubiquitous challenge, and the cost of “missing the mark” continues to rise.  Risk is everywhere. Marty leads his organization to mitigate risk by pairing time-honored and innovative research methodologies with shrewd, thoughtful analysis. The result is intelligence – insight that increases the odds of hitting the mark head-on.

Dr. Saperstein enjoys public speaking about research, and often shares an alternate point-of-view. His work is cited in a variety of Publications including Forbes.com, Politico.com, PR Newswire, The Boston Globe, and many local publications.