Review of Gauging public opinion

Abstract

Reviews the book, Gauging public opinion by Hadley Cantril (1944). Public opinion research has developed practically from "scratch" within the last decade. The present book is timely in that it critically and empirically surveys this rapidly growing field. The book is divided into five sections. The first section deals with the actual questions employed in a survey. Section Two discusses personal interviewing problems from an empirical standpoint. Part Three deals with sampling. Part Four examines the determinants of opinion. The fifth section applies public opinion techniques to a specific problem, namely the measurement of civilian morale. The reviewer contends that it is perhaps fortunate from the standpoint of the development of this new scientific field that it came along about the time so many things were happening in the world that might change opinion. In peace times differences between groups and changes in opinion would be smaller and careful analysis more difficult. It occurs to the reviewer that from now on historians are going to have a new job, namely, keeping track of public opinion as well as of the course of events. The book is definitely a contribution to this new field. It will be a "must" for persons who are going to work systematically in this field. It could be a textbook in courses for training public opinion interviewers, and it will be of interest to the social psychologist who perforce, is interested in how the public feels about things. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)