ABSTRACT
The kind of precision journalism that results from using social science research methods is making a degree of headway because many journalists are aware that some of their methods result in misleading reports. It is making headway, too, because most schools and departments of journalism and communication are now exposing prospective journalists to the findings of social science research and training some in the methods, in part because the Russell Sage Foundation in New York works to link journalism and the social sciences by sponsoring conferences, publications, and training programs. Anyone who gives much attention to election news on radio and television is aware that there precision journalism is firmly implanted. Networks and stations may commission survey research during other periods, but on election night it is so dominant that it almost seems that the survey researchers and the computer programmers have taken over from the newscasters. A ready source of background material for precision journalists is census tract data.
