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The Represented is a social network for opinion research and other testimonial facts. Users post polls, vote on each others polls, and the results are freely viewable and filterable by anyone.
The Represented seeks to provide a platform for the public to voice themselves on any matters of concern. Our goal is to provide unbiased, accurate, public opinion statistics. We seek to facilitate advancement in the tools and methodology of research at large. Simultaneously, we aim to link people to those who may be of value or interest to them, but with whom they may have otherwise been unable to connect. Finally, we aspire to correct misconceptions directed toward particular groups by organizing simple facts in a user friendly, comprehensible information hub.
The Represented is unique in many ways. We take a fundamentally different approach to polling and research than every other such institution, as of the time of this writing at least. Here are the ways our approach improves upon the industry standard. It's not that every other source suffers from all of these shortcomings, but every one seems to have at least a few.
Filtering.
What is filtering?
Filtering is the function of analyzing a poll (or other data) by studying and comparing subsets of those who voted. Comparing the opinions of male and female voters on an issue is an example of filtering.
Why is filtering useful?
Filtering allows you to address suspected bias in a study. It enables you to confirm, debunk, or otherwise gauge reliability. For example, suppose a statistic indicates that Americans take a certain conservative position on some issue. You might suspect that the respondents to the poll were mostly conservatives and that the data is skewed. However, by counting the number of conservatives and liberals who responded to the poll and by comparing the opinions of each subset, you can determine whether or not the overall conclusion was, in fact, well supported.
How does The Represented compare to others with regards to filtering?
Most importantly, The Represented allows for YOU to manipulate the data. The overwhelming majority of sources do not enable any filtering at at all. They expect you to take their word for everything. A handful of sources allow for only the most basic of filters (e.g. gender, certain races, certain locations, American political parties). We allow you to filter by ANYTHING. You can filter by demographics such as income, education, religion, occupation, marital status, and countless others. You can even filter by other polls (e.g. peoples' opinions); something no other source enables you to do. This means only The Represented enables you to address ANY suspected bias.
What if a statistic IS biased?
Many statistics are biased. It's often unavoidable. However, where other sources seem to act as if their data is always reliable, The Represented let's you determine what the state of any given statistic is. This way you know when to wait for more votes or other information before you accept, and perhaps act on, a conclusion.
Up to date.
Because our data is live and our means immediate, the information here is always current. Other sources often take weeks or more to collect, analyze, and prep data for distribution. That's why you often see years old studies cited in reports from other sources. In the modern information age, even a few hours can have monumental effects on people's states of being and states of mind. The Represented can capture and distribute that information in real time.
Not only that, but only The Represented allows you to track changes over time by time filtering. We allow you to vote repeatedly on a single poll and retain all of the votes. This way, you can "rewind" a poll and see how opinions have changed over time. Additionally, the votes are uniquely maintained such that repeat voting does not give you the ability to skew results by voting many times.
Transparency.
We believe in transparency. You can always see exactly how many people voted, exactly how the questions were phrased, exactly what time period the data is from, and so on. We are not trying to hide anything; all of this information is prominently displayed.
User questions.
The Represented is all about YOUR questions. Other sources conduct the research THEY think is important. They analyze their studies by the demographics that THEY think are relevant. We know that there are always more questions to be asked. We encourage you to ask your own questions. Focus on any aspect YOU feel is important so the information can be useful to you. Gain clarity and add nuance that satisfies you as individual.
And most importantly, if you are skeptical of a conclusion, investigate it yourself by asking whatever questions you may have and incorporating the new information directly into the study.
No agenda.
Other sources have some agenda. News outlets have political bends, polling institutions cater to their paying clients, to name a couple. No one can pay us to manipulate data since WE are not conducting research. We enable YOU to conduct research.
Anonymity.
Without anonymity, people are inclined to lie. People do not want to provide certain information when they can be associated with it. People do not even like providing such information to strangers, when the interaction is personal. One cannot reliably take someone's word for an issue when they might have reason to lie. Imagine you were asked if you have ever been convicted of a crime, or have given to charity, or suffer from a certain illness, or even if you enjoy the music of an unpopular artist. You might lie to avoid shame, or to earn respect, or to maintain privacy, or even to be spared embarassment. Such motivations skew results so drastically as to render them meaningless.
Such sources of bias do not exist on The Represented. There is no respect to be gained or shame to be avoided by lying. So votes are truthful.
No middlemen.
Even with accurate data, there remains the problem of distribution. Two different people could interpret the same data in two different ways. Two different people could present the same data in two different ways. And such differences are often based on the positions of the distributor.
On The Represented, there is no journalist, researcher, or news anchor between you and the data that might spin a conclusion. You research with the power of having access to the raw data, being able to ask your own questions, and being your own distributor... and you investigate what others distribute with the same power.
