CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
In
general, an opinion is a view, stand
point, or perception about an issue that is inconclusive. It could be said to
be one’s thoughts on certain issues with no decisive conclusion. The difference
between fact and opinion is that fact can probably be proven (evidence), i.e. a
reasonable number of experts can attest to it. An example is: "United
States of America was involved in the Vietnam War"
versus "United States of America was right to get involved in the Vietnam
War". Most times, opinions are backed with evidence and principles when
one is engaged in an argument. Based on individual differences, people tend to
have diverse contrasting views on some sets of facts. Opinions seldom differ
even in the absence of new arguments (Scheuren, 2004). It is logical to
say that an opinion with facts is more held than one examined with said
arguments. Over time, opinion has always been the viewpoint, perception,
attitudes, feelings, and desires. It may refer to unproven information, juxtapose
to knowledge
and fact.
Conventionally, public
opinion is the sum total of people’s feelings, beliefs, or attitudes held by a
population (e.g., a city, state, or country), while consumer opinion is related
to public opinion in that it is the sum total of people’s responses collected
as part of marketing research (e.g., the views of consumers
on a particular product or service). Basically, due to the fact that the procedures
of gathering opinions from all individuals are strenuous, expensive, or inaccurate
to obtain, public opinion (or consumer opinion) is estimated using Opinion Poll
sampling (e.g., with a representative sample of a
population).
An opinion poll also referred to as a
poll is a research methodology carried out by an individual or group of
individuals in order to gather the opinions of a sample of respondents from a
population. Opinion polls are constructed to show the responses or opinions of
a population (respondents) through the use of a questionnaire then deduce their
responses in ratio or within confidence intervals. A local straw poll
piloted by The Aru Pennsylvanian in 1824
was the first recorded opinion poll, presenting Andrew Jackson
leading John Quincy Adams by 335 votes to 169
in the contest for the United States Presidency.
Having declared Jackson, the winner through the majority votes of the people
both in the state and in the country as a whole, it gave way for the continuous
usage of straw votes, though locally. In 1916, The Literary Digest set out to conduct a
national Opinion Poll (partially as a circulation-raising exercise) and rightly
predicted Woodrow Wilson's election as
president. They distributed millions of postcards by mail and counted them on
return, The Literary Digest rightly envisage the victories of Warren Harding
in 1920, Calvin Coolidge in 1924, Herbert Hoover
in 1928, and Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.
An
online opinion poll system gathers information without the intervention of the
opinion leader or administrator electronically, by responding to set of
questions on the Web (Thomas, 2003). Bearing in mind that online based opinion
systems are computer base, it permits bulky collection of data. Online opinion
management system comprises how the administrator runs and manages different
types of Opinion Polls through the internet networks. An online opinion poll
system allows tertiary institutions to build questionnaires as well as publish
questionnaires to respondents. The advent of this technology eases the stress,
and possibly the cost attached with manual distribution of questionnaires. Also,
it quickens the distribution and response sequence.
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
There are various channels in which
opinions can be gotten-one major channel is through the issuance of
questionnaires manually to respondents. Other channels are through interviews,
observations and mails.
This method is strenuous because it
involves cost, time, and efforts (Sekaran, 1992; Hair et al., 2006). A
preliminary study involving 12 lecturers found that they agree to implement any
tool that can assist them in administering Opinion Poll practice. Currently, a
lot of commercial web-based opinion management systems exist, but users have to
pay for its usage as well as register. Such opinion management systems include:
Opinion PollGizmo1, Opinion PollMonkey2, and QuestionPro3. When the lecturers
were interrogated, they prefer not to use the commercial web-based opinion
management system because they do not have trust on the system. This implies that the lecturers prefer to use
a tool that will ease the administration process in their opinion practice,
though it must be internal. In order to
tackle this problem, a web-based system will be developed.
1.3
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major objective of the study is to
design and implement an online campus opinion poll system. Specific objectives
of the paper are:
1. To develop a simple, secure and anonymous
interface for students to air their opinion on issues bothering them.
2. To develop a secure system for opinion
leaders on campus/administrator to easily post questions for students to give
their opinions.
1.4
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is expected to contribute
significantly to different parties, including to the body of knowledge and to
the researchers.
1. To the body of knowledge: Results
gathered from the evaluations will be used to propose whether Online Opinion
Poll System is useful and easy to use by students and lecturers. This is important because students and
lecturers that are going to be asked include all levels of computer background.
2. To the researchers: By implementing OCOP,
researchers can reduce the cost, time, and efforts in administering their Opinion
Poll.
1.5
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The design and implementation of an
online campus opinion poll system will be delimited to the students and
lecturers of University of Abuja, Nigeria.
1.6
DEFINITION OF TERMS
OCPS: Online Campus Poll System
Opinion: a view or
judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
Opinion Poll: This is a human
research Opinion Poll of public opinion from a particular sample.
Opinion Polls: To look
closely at or examine.
Opinion Poll System: A system that gathers
information without the intervention of the opinion leader or administrator
electronically.
Online: Over the internet or network.