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Attention is drawn to the danger of false conclusions resulting from comparisons of the marginals obtained in PO surveys in diff countries in general, since there are specific cultural variations in the readiness to admit lack of knowledge or opinion about the subject of the question. Data are drawn from a cross-nat'l survey sponsored by the European Coordination Center for Res & Documentation in Soc Sci's, Vienna, in 1964 & 1965, published under the title 'Images of a Disarmed World.' It is found that the Norwegians are clearly much more inclined to give wrong answers rather than admit ignorance, than are the Frenchmen or the Poles, irrespective of the question asked. The Frenchmen & the Poles both show a tendency to give the 'don't know' response. 2 conclusions are deduced from this: (1) The % of correct responses given by the Norwegian public may appear unduly high when compared with the French & the Polish samples. Some Norwegian R's who did not know the correct answers probably increased the number of 'hits' using the heads-tails method, instead of admitting their ignorance. (2) The same response style may be operative not only on knowledge questions but on opinion questions as well. To the extent that this is true, comparisons of opinion marginals among the 3 countries will also be distorted. It is observed that diff countries have diff response styles & that the diff's may be even greater in countries whose cultures differ more widely. In the case of extreme diff's in response styles, it might be advisable to abandon comparisons of marginals for the whole pop in favor of an analysis of responses of comparable groups. 2 Tables. M. Maxfield.

A report from 2 surveys carried out in Warsaw in 1963, just before & after the President J. F. Kennedy's assassination, presents the impact of this event on opinions about internat'l problems of Warsaw inhabitants. Interest in internat'l poi increased, but the set of internat'l problems which involved the public remained unchanged. There was no diff in evaluation of current threats to peace, no change in the estimated likelihood of avoiding a world war during the next 20 yrs. Some changes did occur in the appraisal of the role of PO in internat'l pol (increasing conviction about an impact of general public), in appraising the seriousness of such problems as famine & diseases (less concern about these questions), & in evaluations of the role of some statesmen (a strong increase of the appraisal of President Kennedy's contribution to world peace occurred after his death from 42.5 to 83.3% of the sample (N= 497 & 300). It is hyp'ed that (1) some unexpected, shocking pol'al events, which happen even in a distant country with a diff pol'al system, induce people to think over, discuss & reevaluate the whole set of phenomena related to such events, (2) as a result, those opinions with which an individual is not strongly involved, or which are not esp familiar to him, may undergo considerable change. AA.

Questionaire surveys, which were introduced on a comparatively wide scale in Poland in 1956-1957, were often published in the press; later, surveys were carried out by a variety of sociol'al org's. An org specializing in this type of survey was founded in 1958 by Polish Radio & TV, which received the name of PO Res Centre (OBOP), & which covers the needs not only of Polish Radio & TV, but of other state-owned or soc instit's. Approximately 80 surveys, based on representative samples (with quota samples of 2,000 to 3,000 persons), were undertaken by the OBOP over the 1958-1962 period. The comparitivity & accumulativity of the results were ensured by planning the themes of these surveys into certain cycles, viz: MM of COMM, cultural & leisure time problems, att's towards work, soc problems of industrialization, soc problems of small towns, Ru problems, surveys devoted to certain demographic categories, consumer res, & other problems. The results of these surveys were published in special OBOP reports, & in Polish sociol'al periodicals, esp the English-language The Polish Sociological Bulletin, published by the Polish Sociol'al Society. Various problems still demanding a solution are: problems of res personnel & their selection & training, the attitude of society towards the activities of the OBOP, & problems of methods (ie,representation, L f build-up, index value of questions, etc). A bibliography of works based on OBOP surveys is given. (See also SA 0827-A9630). AA.