Sondaże: polityka, media, wiedza. Katalog wątpliwości
Surveys: politics, media and knowledge. A catalogue of doubts

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the role of opinion polls in social life from a perspective of social communication. There is a glaring disparity between normative assumptions behind survey methods and reality. Hence the urge for critical reflection both upon normative prerequisites and the existent social circulation of survey findings. A phenomenological view attributes limited rationality to opinion polls. Deficient self-awareness pertaining to the applicability of opinion polls and survey findings is analysed in the following three areas: relations between opinion polls and politics; the presence of survey findings in media communication; and, finally, the placement of opinion polls in different types and varieties of social knowledge. In conclusion, the author invites more detailed sociological commentaries on poll findings as well as application of alternative or supplementary survey techniques.

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