American Idol Winner Suggests Flaws in Idol Voting Methodology

FLEMINGTON, N.J., May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A national study conducted among 3,901 American Idol viewers revealed that the contestant who was selected as the winner of the season 9 competition did not accurately reflect the viewers' choice.

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The Idol Democracy study was conducted during May 25-26, by HCD Research using its mediacurves.com website, to obtain American Idol viewers' perceptions of which contestant should be chosen as the winner on the May 26 results show. HCD Research conducted a series of studies among a nationally representative sample of Americans, which paralleled American Idol voting to determine the weekly winners based on a democratic, "one person, one vote" methodology.

"I would be interested to see a frequency distribution of the number of votes per person for the American Idol final vote," commented Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research, "My guess is that you would see a smaller number of people voting many times, which does not give an accurate reflection of which contestant the majority of viewers wanted to win."

During last night's show, Lee Dewyze was selected as the winner of the competition for this season. In contrast, viewers participating in the national Idol Democracy study, which employs a "one person, one vote" system, reported that Crystal Bowersox, who received 66.2% of the votes, should have won competition last night by a large margin. Lee Dewyze received 33.8% of the votes in the Idol Democracy study.

The discrepancy between the American Idol voting and the Idol Democracy study suggests a flaw in the American Idol voting methodology. The American Idol voting methodology allows viewers to vote multiple times for multiple contestants. However, the Idol Democracy study allows viewers to vote one time for one contestant, as in a democratic voting system. To view detailed results visit: www.mediacurves.com/americanidol/idoldemocracy  

To register for weekly Idol Democracy studies go to: https://www.hcdsurveys.com/panel/join.cfm?source=idol2010

Among the findings:

Respondents were asked to pick the one contestant that they thought should advance to the next round of the competition:

HCD Research is a marketing and communications research company headquartered in Flemington, NJ.  The company's services include traditional and web-based research.  For additional information on HCD Research, access the company's web site at www.hcdi.net or call HCD Research at 908-788-9393. MediaCurves.com® (www.mediacurves.com) is a media measurement website that provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans' perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements.

SOURCE HCD Research