Educational Research - the Ethics and Aesthetics of Statistics

5 Constructing Social Unity and Presenting Clear Predictions 73
international issues (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944/1969, p. 34). In a similar
way Karl Mannheim (1951, pp. 13–23) and Lippmann (1922/1990, pp. 264–275)
demanded that a social psychological diagnosis of people’s education should act as
a basis for ‘planning for freedom’. Hartmut von Hentig, the famous reform pedagogue
from Bielefeld, aimed to prepare people in West Germany for citizenship
and responsibility (von Hentig, 1963, quoted from Von Hodenberg, 2006, p. 55).
In contrast to this, Erich Peter Neumann (1965, p. 29) from Allensbach pointed
out that politics had to fulfil important mass educational tasks: ‘Actually systematic
examinations have generated almost unambiguous indications that the relationship
between the citizen and the state are more at risk the fewer the citizen knows
about the state’ (Neumann, 1955). Indeed political skills and knowledge should be
improved – especially among the youth. But Neumann judged political education as
an important precondition to strengthen public support for governmental leadership
in West Germany.
Allensbach pollsters did not see data per se as an instrument to create public
communication or the kind of education that Dewey wanted. In contrast to Dewey
they thought that statistical data, series and charts are too abstract for most superficially
educated people. This seems to be a paradox because the presentation of
data and charts should suggest clear regulation of the national body as a means to
create social coherence. However, Neumann was of the opinion that the publication
of pure data could neither create acceptance of the government decisions nor convince
the population of political programs: ‘It is evident that there is no easier way
of going over people’s heads than by using statistics. The majority of the population
thinks that the proportion between 100,000 marks and 100,000,000 marks differs
only in the different quantity of zeros’. 8 Therefore, Neumann wanted to reserve poll
data exclusively for the political elite and public intellectuals. Pollsters or special
journalists should comment and interpret quantitative results to avoid the misreading
of the data. Here, we discover a contradiction that cannot be resolved: the legitimisation
of polls derives from their capacity to improve democratic or at least national
mass communication. Polls seem to be a means to restore the great community.
However, they often present the respondents as incomplete and ignorant human
beings who are not able to deal with public affairs. It seems that polls aggravate
the gap between experts, governors and the people even though the results are often
published.
5.6 Conclusion
Neumann’s statement reveals a bizarre and paradoxical mistrust of the possibility
that polls can create and strengthen public communication in Dewey’s sense. Poll
data should create clarity. It should help with prediction and comparison. However,
its main purpose ended up being the elaboration of political or governmental strategies
by political experts. The publication of data should not and did not serve to
establish free communication among people but convinced them of the veracity of
governmental aims and dominant norms. If the majority of respondents comply with