# A poll about polls

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-polls/604954>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 3, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-polls/604954 "2011-12-03T16:48:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-polls/604954/1 "2011-12-03T16:48:51Z")

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Obviously it may depend a lot on the subject matter, but **in general** , given these two choices, do you prefer polls to have:

a) a large number of very specific options, mostly precluding any need to expound further in the thread, or

b) a minimal number of fairly vague options, practically requiring further explanation.

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-polls/604954/2 "2011-12-03T17:09:17Z")

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Wow! 100% chose the same as me!

Oh. I’m first.

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**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-polls/604954/3 "2011-12-03T18:06:05Z")

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I was hoping for more options in this poll.

Honestly - if I thought it would improve the chances of there being an option that applies exactly, I’d go for more options. But unless the poll is about something easily listable (What’s your favorite single digit number?), I find that more options just means a wider selection of near misses.

-D/a

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-polls/604954/4 "2011-12-03T19:45:11Z")

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#2. For personal preference of course, but also because a poll with 15+ options is often pointless. It’s like if you make a histogram and make the bin size = 1 (statistics/math geekery, sorry). You can look at it, but it means nothing to you because all the options occur with similar frequency so the histogram looks mostly flat.

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-poll-about-polls/604954/5 "2011-12-03T19:50:13Z")

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your options were too many and too vague. Next time have less options and more vagueness 🙂