CONWAY, Ark. (July
13, 2018) – Hendrix College will renew and expand its polling partnership with Talk Business & Politics, a news media outlet focused exclusively on
Arkansas business, politics, and public affairs, for 2018-2019.
The partnership
began in 2010 as a natural extension of a longtime mutual interest in Arkansas
news and politics between two Hendrix alumni. Talk Business & Politics founder Roby Brock ’88 and Hendrix politics
professor Dr. Jay Barth ’87 write the poll questions and analyze the results.
Over the past
eight years, the polls have filled an important news media niche, offering
seasoned analysis on Arkansas residents’ views of state and national elections,
ballot initiatives, and issues, based on raw data from automated and live
caller polling.
In addition to Talk Business & Politics and its
state media partners that share the poll results, Brock has contributed
analysis from the polls to CNN and C-SPAN during national election cycles.
“Our polling
efforts have become a staple of Arkansas politics,” said Brock. “In the eight
years that we’ve been conducting our surveys, we’ve had a high degree of
accuracy in understanding shifting voter attitudes towards candidates and
issues. It has helped drive our coverage and I look forward to our expanded
partnership with Hendrix College.”
The project also
offers a unique hands-on learning opportunity for Hendrix students interested
in politics. As part of the arrangement with Talk Business & Politics, Hendrix students help design the surveys
that are carried out; student analysis of the results is at the center of distinctive
engaged learning assignments that enhance undergraduate classes.
“Surveys are at
the center of social science research,” said Barth. “It’s incredibly helpful
for students to see a survey from start to finish to aid them in becoming more
responsible users of data from such surveys, and it also prepares them for
their own research projects down the line.”
This year, Brock
and Barth will increase the number of polls to at least six each year, up from
three or four. They also hope to develop an annual poll in the spring, designed
and executed largely by undergraduate students, that focuses on 18- to 29-year-olds’
views on a topic or topics connected to education.
“With this newly
expanded relationship, in addition to continuing polling work in classes as in
the past, I will develop a team of students who will shadow our work on the
polls during the campaign season. Then, in the spring semester, they will take
the reins for the design, analysis, and presentation of a survey deeply
relevant to their generation,” Barth said.
About Hendrix College
A private liberal
arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns
recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is
featured in Colleges
That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About
Colleges.
Its academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix
as a fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876,
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To
learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.