(RNS) The uses and abuses of public opinion polling made headlines this week after Fox News claimed it relied on surveys to select 10 of 17 Republican presidential candidates for its prime-time nationally televised debate Thursday (August 6).

Pundits howled and poll jargon flooded the media.

But political polling isnt the only arena where scholars and the public have become fed up, frustrated and angry at surveys that one leading sociologist claimed are of dubious value or validity.