Concept
quasi-statistical sense
According to Noelle-Neumann, an almost statistician-like “sixth sense” that lets people, without running a poll, sense which opinion is rising and which is declining around them.
The quasi-statistical sense (the sources also use quasi-statistical organ) is a concept Noelle-Neumann proposed to describe how people sense the distribution of opinion around them. The idea: alongside the five senses there is a kind of sixth sense, and this sense collects what society at large thinks and what is in favour “almost statistically”, without a random sample or a poll.
According to Noelle-Neumann, this perception catches especially the direction of travel, that is, which opinion is rising and which is declining; even when people misread the present state, they generally sense the trend. That is why two questions are asked in her research: “Whatever your own opinion, what do most people think?” and “In a year’s time, will more or fewer people share this opinion?”
Turkish has no established equivalent. The Turkish version of this course uses “yarı istatistiksel algı” (“quasi-statistical perception”), as does one Turkish article ; Polat’s text conveys the concept by explaining it as “neredeyse istatistiki bir anlayış gücü” (“an almost statistical power of understanding”).
Example
In 1965, while voting intentions stayed steady for months, answers to “Who do you think will win the election?” shifted toward the CDU/CSU: even though the parties’ real strength had not changed, people had sensed which way the trend was turning.