Your first poll, in about ten minutes

The best first poll is small and cheap, and its only job is to tell you whether the question works.

1. Write down what you want to learn, in one sentence. "Do these models recommend different transport priorities for the same city?" If you cannot write the sentence, the poll cannot answer it.
2. Ask one thing. "Is this policy fair and effective?" is two questions, and a model can only answer one of them with one letter. Split it.
3. Give options a reader can tell apart, and add "There isn't enough information" when declining is a fair answer. Options are shuffled for every call, so never write "both of the above".
4. Add one more wording. Keep the facts and the options the same, and change only the phrasing. If the two wordings disagree, you have learned something before spending much.
5. Pick three models. A larger panel costs more and does not make a weak question stronger.
6. Ask each five times, once. Run it once now. Five samples show whether a model is consistent; they are not enough to report a precise share.
7. Read every reply. Not the chart: the replies. Look for refusals, for answers that dodge the options, and for a wording that confused a model. This is where most first polls get fixed.
8. Then decide. Change the question (it starts a new version, on purpose), or schedule it daily or weekly and let it collect.

Start a poll · Write better questions