EXTRAORDINARY
EDUCATION
The HPU POLL: Putting Public Opinion into Perspective
Kelsy Underwood didn’t like answering the phone. She’d tell you that. She was “pretty shy,” and she used few words in conversation. But there she was, her first stint in the university’s Survey Research Center, slipping on a pair of headphones and calling someone she didn’t even know. She came for her Surveys and Sampling course. She is a math major with a statistics minor, and she asked questions about everything from politics to tourism to the importance of a college education. Over two sessions that lasted a total of six hours, she made 203 phone calls. With every phone call, her nervousness faded; her confidence grew. A short while later, she realized she helped create national news headlines by finding the state’s pulse.
Since its establishment in 2010, the Survey Research Center has garnered: • 17,000 surveys • 1,000 media mentions • 800 student interviewers
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“When people answer, it gets exciting,” said Underwood, an HPU junior. “You get these results, and you see how people feel, you see what they like and don’t like, and you see how you can make it better.”
Learning by Doing At High Point University, that’s how learning works. Putting students in the here and now to collaborate with professors, leaders and their community is a hallmark of a liberal arts education. This work gives them an edge they need when they go after an internship or a job after graduation because they can talk comfortably to others about their own research. And they can talk about the SRC. The Survey Research Center, home of the High Point University Poll, launched six years ago. Since then, 800 students have taken part in more than 17,000 survey interviews. They’ve nailed down numbers and information that gauge the mercurial nature of public opinion. The center gets questions from HPU professors, local newspapers, state agencies and from HPU students themselves. Students like Underwood. The results are reported by newspapers and on local and national TV and become the grist of TV and online commentaries everywhere. The HPU Poll demonstrates the credibility of the university. And the survey equips the students with skills necessary for 21st century working environments.