How the health care poll was conducted

How the health care poll was conducted

The Associated Press 2010 Health Care Reform Survey, by Stanford University with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was conducted Aug. 31-Sept. 7, based on 1,251 adults.

The national survey was conducted online by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, Calif., under the direction and supervision of AP’s polling unit.

Knowledge Networks initially contacted people using traditional telephone and mail polling methods and followed with an online interview. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free. With a probability basis and coverage of people who otherwise couldn’t access the Internet, the Knowledge Networks online surveys are nationally representative.

Results were weighted, or adjusted, to reflect the adult population by demographic factors such as age, sex, region, race and education.

No more than one time in 20 should chance variations in the sample cause results to vary more than plus or minus 3.9 percentage points from the answers that would have been obtained if all adults in the U.S. were surveyed.

There are other, potentially greater, sources of variability in surveys, including the wording and order of the questions.

The questions and results for this poll are available at surveys.ap.org.