A liberal communications group is accusing a UW-Madison professor and the conservative think tank he is affiliated with of manipulating poll data.
One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said polling data compiled by Wisconsin Policy Research Institute regarding support across the state for school vouchers wrongly depicted majority support for such programs.
The particular data in question is part of a poll that looked at political issues around the state. George Lightbourn, WPRI president, said the most germane data for each issue was presented.
""The numbers are consistent, we didn't jiggle anything,"" he said regarding the data on vouchers.
Lightbourn said that despite being called ""conservative"" or ""right-wing,"" WPRI does ""peer reviewed legitimate research.""
""If [One Wisconsin Now] had looked at all the results … there are some results in that poll that left-leaning people would find very gratifying.""
Ross said initial data was removed from the final poll presentation, downplaying the lack of overall state support for vouchers. He said he had early concerns about the affiliation between WPRI and UW-Madison.
""We were suspect about this project from the beginning because of WPRI's well known ultra conservative agenda. It is pretty clear they got involved with the University of Wisconsin to try to put a more credible imperator on their biased research,"" Ross said.
Ross called on the University of Wisconsin to demand an end to the University's affiliation with WPRI.
Ken Goldstein, the UW-Madison professor who had methodological control over the polling, said he was paid as a consultant by WPRI, which is allowed under his university contract.
""People get emotional in politics. The other crucial point is, you cannot find a survey that released more information more quickly or more publically than this survey,"" he said, noting the online availability of the data.
Goldstein said every part of the polling data on vouchers, including a questionnaire, cross-tabs and a PowerPoint presentation are openly accessible online.
""[Ross] is basically accusing us of cherry picking, but what he's doing is cherry picking in the most egregious fashion,"" Goldstein said.
