Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
European Journal of Scientific Research, cilt.42, sa.1, ss.93-105, 2010 (Scopus)
Survey research analyses the relationship between independent and dependent variables related to the environment in which we find ourselves. When the analyses of these relationships are established in an objective way, events gain significance within the context of their own environment. This means that we have found the points at which we can intervene on the variables and thus change the environment, in other words that the world has become controllable. How far can we trust the relationships presented with certain formats between findings? Does the fact that these relationships are valid and reliable mean that the world can be managed rationally? This study's aim is to underline a point that goes beyond the question of the validity and reliability of the findings, a point that has to be taken into consideration from the very beginning: Why and how will the survey be organised and carried out? One way of providing an answer to this question is to analyse the findings of the survey. The information that is obtained on the basis of the findings of the survey, concerning why and how the survey has been set up (context), will show us whether objective explanations related to the subject of the survey can be provided. This objective explanation has been assumed to be the capacity to control the world by means of the findings of the survey. If the information concerning the context of the survey arouses suspicions about the objectivity of the survey, then we cannot talk about an independent survey or of rationality. In this study, the structural analysis of correlations between the findings of the survey will be used to obtain information concerning the context. It shall be assumed that the social assumptions obtained by the structural analysis of the correlations between the findings are indicators of the context of the survey. If the structural correlations between the findings remain unchanged (the repetitious correlations), this might lead us to one of two conclusions: Either the social environment to which the survey refers remains unchanged, or the context of the survey is characterised by unchanged opinions concerning that environment. The second conclusion might also be expressed as a lack of objectivity of the survey and the concerned public not approving the fact that the world surrounds them is controlled. Thus, the risk of the survey being manipulative or democratic should be carried over to a platform of qualitative debate of the surveys. After studying public opinion surveys that have been carried out previously, their contexts will be analysed and the objectivity of the surveys will be discussed. Surveys related to the social sciences that have already been carried out and have appeared in the Turkish press will be used, since we think that surveys that have been published in the press have a special place as far as the shaping of public opinion is concerned. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2010.