Before I dive into the headline topic this week, I would be bereft of my chamber director duties if I didn’t remind everyone of the big weekend we have ahead. Annually, the third Saturday in August is when we become the “epicenter of Maine tourism for 24 hours.” Saturday, Aug. 17, is a big day for activity in our region, thanks to three big events.

In Bath, there will be Kindness Day Bath, a sidewalk expo of different booths offering different interpretations of kindness. Bubbles, games, crafts, face painting and myriad other free, family-fun activities will be happening throughout Bath from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. To keep up to date, check out the Kindness Day Bath Facebook page that is posting regular updates for this 11th annual event.

In Brunswick, there are two big events. Downtown you will find the Brunswick Outdoor Arts Festival brought to you by the Brunswick Downtown Association, while out at Thomas Point Beach Campground you can find the Maine Highland Games and Scottish Festival presented by the St. Andrew’s Society of Maine. Both events are daylong and though they feature vastly different things, they both will draw over 1,000 people easily. The arts festival will feature pop-up tents sprouting up all throughout the downtown with juried artists showcasing any one of nearly a dozen artisan mediums, from jewelry making and photography to woodworking and live music. The Highland Games are kilt-tastic and celebrate all aspects of Scottish heritage, featuring traditional food, apparel and, of course, the competitive traditional games of tossing hay bales, stones and more. Find details about each of these events at mainehighlandgames.org and brunswickdowntown.org.

Now, onto something completely different that dominates our daily news cycle: polling. Surveys dominate our culture. Not a news cycle goes by without a segment on the latest political or business poll. Honestly, when you watch the news, see how long you go before you hear the words, “According to a new poll just released …” — it won’t be long. I was analyzing some raw data earlier today from a recent survey I wrote when I was reminded of a few things that I think we all need to be aware of.

First off, we need to recognize that polls are highly influential and are an extremely effective way of expressing data. Honestly, when a poll is done correctly, including the right questions being asked in the right way, and the sampling size being indicative of who should be represented, a poll is hard to top for its effectiveness, as it is derived from asking people direct questions and getting straight answers. Polls are inherently trusted by many, as they should be when done right, however, not every poll is equal.

There are some rather obvious tricks pollsters can play, such as using small data sets (so that a few responses can seem weightier than they really are) or using a respondent pool not indicative of the general public. (I always chuckle when viewers of partisan TV stations are polled with “who they think won the debate” and it comes back that 80%–90% of the viewers think that that TV station’s favorite candidate won.) However, there are a few things that even the most well-meaning person can get duped by.

The first piece involves impassioned responses and overweighting them.

This came up because there was a question I was analyzing the results for and 23 respondents had said “strongly agree” while three respondents selected “strongly disagree,” and then there was one person who selected “other.” It turns out this person selected “other” because they “strongly disagreed” but wanted to explain it further. It reminded me that though this person was passionate enough to write a short essay on their feelings, that this response was only one vote.

Too often we get dissuaded by the impassioned thoughts of a few overruling the wishes of the many. This happens all the time with NIMBYism — it is the very core of it — when five to 10 people, or even 50 people, show up to a town council meeting trying to overturn a policy that was passed by hundreds or thousands of votes. Too often, the will of a loud few overrides the votes of the silent majority. I recorded the question above as 23-4 for strongly agree over strongly disagree, and added to weight for the extra explanation.

Another piece is confirmation bias. A good example was above with the partisan TV station poll, but confirmation bias is seeking out only information that supports the answer you want. Some pollsters will do this to try and weight results. For instance, “Of all of those who attended the Candidate Smith rally, over 96% said they were planning to vote for her.” Well, of course they did, you polled only people who attended an event for the candidate. This is a common trick in business surveying, when those groups who feel a certain away already are the only ones asked. “Employees overwhelmingly say they should be paid more, even if it raises prices” or “A majority of business leaders think new regulations are too restrictive and will hurt business growth.” It seems odd, but we see these kinds of surveys on the news all the time.

That’s probably the bottom line here: Though surveys can be very telling, be aware of how they can be misleading. Look at who was surveyed and be sure they are representative. National political polls have been wrong for a decade, because no pollster can get a decent read on young voters since youngsters don’t answer landline phone calls like their grandparents do, as many don’t have landlines or answer cell phone calls. If a poll doesn’t include a major demographic of who it will affect, it may not be a very accurate poll. However, if your poll does reflect the population, there is rarely a more valuable tool.

Let me know if you agree (just kidding).

Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce.