University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center to Study People's Outlook on Poetry.

(From AScribe)

CHICAGO -- The nation's first scientifically based survey of people's attitudes toward poetry has been launched by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago through the sponsorship of The Poetry Foundation, Chicago.

The survey, announced April 1 in honor of Poetry Month, will be based on interviews with 1,000 people nationwide who will be contacted by phone beginning in June. Results of the survey are expected to be tallied by the end of the year.

"By interviewing a scientifically selected sample of the population, the survey will test the insights brought out in discussion groups at the early stages of the study. The survey may discover new and unsuspected attitudes towards poetry," said Norman Bradburn, Senior Fellow at NORC, and a member of the study's oversight committee.

The Poetry Foundation, which publishes Poetry magazine, initiated the study as part of its mission to make poetry a vigorous presence in American culture and to place exceptional poetry before the largest possible audience.

"A first step in making progress toward these goals is to determine where poetry stands in American culture today," said John Barr, president of The Poetry Foundation. "We hope this unprecedented research will have great practical value for our organization and other groups involved in promoting poetry."

The survey will assess attitudes among both poetry enthusiasts and people who do not read poetry regularly. Already, small discussions groups organized to explore the topic, as well as in-depth interviews, have ...