Follow Up

Follow up to an earlier Blog: Last week I had the opportunity to talk with James Palma, Research Manager for the Donahue Institute of the University of Massachusetts. Mr. Palma was one of the primary people involved with a recent poll conducted by the Donahue Institute regarding housing in Massachusetts. The results of this poll have been widely discussed in the media and of course, this registry’s Blog. After polling 509 randomly selected people the Donahue Institute discovered that 46% said either they or an immediately family members had considered moving out of Massachusetts. Palma said the question specifically asked if housing was the reason for the re-location consideration. “Why poll 500 people?” I asked Palma. He said studies have shown that the infamous (+ or -5%) margin of error did not change with much larger samples. The Citizens Housing and Planning Association, a housing advocacy group, contracted the poll. Palma says CHAPA uses the information to work for legislation that will facilitate the availability of affordable housing in Massachusetts. I was a little curious… has Caller ID in anyway effected the valid of polls. According to him it has not…but I wonder.