Patent ID: 8688505

Claim:
A method of continuous polling of a population, the method comprising: at a polling computer coupled to a network and having a processor and a memory storing a set of instructions executable by the processor, performing the steps of: storing in the memory a first respondent pool from a population, wherein each respondent in the first respondent pool is selected based on a relationship with the operator of the polling computer; polling a first set of respondents in the first respondent pool, wherein the number of respondents in the first set of respondents is calculated as: N = S * P I , wherein S is the sample size, P is the population size, and I is a rolling period formed with one or more units, wherein the number of units in the rolling period is less than or equal to the number of respondents in the respondent pool, wherein polling includes: sending, by the polling computer, a poll with a set of questions; receiving, by the polling computer, a first set of responses; analyzing, by the polling computer, the first set of responses to determine a statistical distribution of the first set of responses; storing, by the polling computer, the analysis of the first set of responses in the memory; replacing a portion of the first set of respondents with a set of replacement respondents from an unpolled portion of the population to form a second respondent pool; polling the second respondent pool; receiving, by the polling computer, a second set of responses; analyzing, by the polling computer, the second set of responses to determine a statistical distribution of the second set of responses; comparing the analysis of the first set of responses to the analysis of the second set of response to determine a statistical relationship; and storing, by the polling computer, the analysis of the first set of responses, the analysis of the second set of responses, and the statistical relationship in the memory.