Thinking Versus Doing Most of the polls and surveys we report -- especially at this time of year -- deal with attitudes toward political candidates or issues. That's fine. One of the things we do is let folks know which way the wind is blowing. But we sometimes overlook the value of survey research as a tool for other things. For example, opinion surveys can reach beyond public affairs to sample thinking that reveals lots about our lifestyles and values. Our rape series reported some fascinating research on how men and women regard certain sexual behaviors. But the most revealing surveys usually deal with behavior, not opinion. They're more reliable, for one thing. And they're a firmer foundation for building public policy. The New York Times/CBS News poll that came out during the height of the Clarence Thomas hearings put an edge on the debate by revealing that 4 of 10 women said they'd been sexually harassed at work. The annual survey on high school drug use provides a good baseline for measuring progress in the war on drugs. And the recent survey of high school sexual activity was directly related to AIDS-prevention stories and the condom-distribution controversy. Sometimes surveys paint a more accurate picture of society than measures that traditionally dominate news stories. Every year, for example, we make a big deal of the FBI's unified crime statistics. They generally show crime on the upswing. But reported crime isn't a reliable measure of actual crime because reporting practices change. The best measure of the national crime problem may be the National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. That annual study, which asks a scientific sample of Americans what kind of crime they've experienced in the past year, produces a picture radically different from the FBI's. According to the crime victimization survey, all American crime is down about 25 percent since 1973.
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