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Opinion research is frequently carried out through the Internet and a further increase can be expected. The article focuses on the online access panel, in which respondents are previously recruited through non-probability methods. Despite substantial time- and cost-reduction, online access panel research mainly has to cope with limited Internet coverage and self-selection in the recruitment phase of new panel members. The article investigates whether frequently applied weighting procedures, based on poststratification variables and propensity scores, make online access panel data more representative of the general population. To address this issue, the answers to identical questions are compared between an online self-administered survey of previously recruited online access panel respondents and a face-to-face survey of randomly sampled respondents of the general population. Both respondent groups were surveyed at a similar moment in time (2006-2007) in the same geographical region (Flanders, Belgium). The findings reveal many significant differences, regarding sociodemographic characteristics as well as attitudes towards work, politics and immigrants. The results can be explained by both the specific characteristics of the respondent groups and mode effects. Weighting adjustment had only a minor impact on the results and did not eliminate the differences.

Durch die Verbreitung von Nachrichten über die Ergebnisse von Meinungsumfragen liefern die Medien Politikern und Bürgern bestimmte Hinweise auf die Meinungen der Menschen. Probleme treten dann auf, wenn journalistische Stellungnahmen auf Meinungsumfragen basieren, die nicht bestimmten methodischen Standards entsprechen oder wenn ein einseitiges Bild von öffentlicher Meinung veröffentlicht wird. Wenn man das Beziehungsgeflecht von Medien, Meinungsumfragen und öffentlicher Meinung untersuchen will, muss man verstehen, wie die Medien Umfrageergebnisse in den Nachrichten präsentieren. Mit Hilfe einer Inhaltsanalyse von Zeitungsartikeln widmet sich die Studie der Frage, wie die Medien Nachrichten, die auf Meinungsumfragen basieren, bearbeiten. Weil aktuell nur wenige empirische Untersuchungen für Belgien zur Verfügung stehen, konzentriert sich die Studie auf Flandern (den flämisch spechenden Teil). Untersucht werden Presseartikel über Meinungsumfragen in sechs Zeitungen aus dem Zeitraum 2000 bis 2006. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die aktuelle Zunahme von Nachrichten über Umfragen nicht Hand in Hand geht mit einem gleichen Anstieg der Quantität der offengelegten methodischen Informationen zu den Umfragen. Artikel zu Meinungsumfragen enthalten im Durchschnitt zwischen 0.5 und 2.5 methodische Aspekte und eine große Anzahl der Artikel (69 Prozent) enthält keinerlei methodische Bewertungen der Umfrageergebnisse. Darüberhinaus bestehen mehr Artikel über Umfragen aus einem informativen Bericht über Umfragergebnisse (54 Prozent) als lediglich subjektiver Analyse der Umfragen (26 Prozent). Wenn Umfragen miteinander verglichen werden, geschieht dies zumeist im Längsschnittverfahren. (UNübers.) (UN)

■ By widely disseminating news reports about opinion poll results, news media give politicians and citizens a particular indication of people's opinions. Problems arise when journalistic statements are based on opinion polls that do not conform to methodological standards or when a `biased' image of `public opinion' is published. In order to study the intertwined relationship between news media, opinion polling and public opinion, it has to be understood how the media present polls in the news. Using a content analysis of newspaper articles, this study addresses the question of how the media manufacture news based on opinion polls. Because to date there are few empirical studies available for Belgium, this research focuses on the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) case through an analysis of print articles about opinion polls published in six newspapers between 2000 and 2006. The results show that a recent quantitative growth in poll news does not go hand in hand with a similar increase in the quantity of methodological poll information disclosed. Predominantly, poll-related articles disclose on average between 0.5 and 2.5 methodological aspects and a large number of the articles (69 percent) do not contain any methodological evaluation of the poll results. Furthermore, more poll articles consist of an informative report of poll results (54 percent) than a mere subjective analysis of polls (26 percent) and if polls are compared with each other, they are mostly compared longitudinally. ■

"Opinion research is frequently carried out through the Internet and a further increase can be expected. The article focuses on the online access panel, in which respondents are previously recruited through non-probability methods. Despite substantial time- and cost-reduction, online access panel research mainly has to cope with limited Internet coverage and self-selection in the recruitment phase of new panel members. The article investigates whether frequently applied weighting procedures, based on poststratification variables and propensity scores, make online access panel data more representative of the general population. To address this issue, the answers to identical questions are compared between an online self-administered survey of previously recruited online access panel respondents and a face-to-face survey of randomly sampled respondents of the general population. Both respondent groups were surveyed at a similar moment in time (2006-2007) in the same geographical region (Flanders, Belgium). The findings reveal many significant differences, regarding sociodemographic characteristics as well as attitudes towards work, politics and immigrants. The results can be explained by both the specific characteristics of the respondent groups and mode effects. Weighting adjustment had only a minor impact on the results and did not eliminate the differences." (author's abstract)