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Political science students at Lycoming College recently discovered a fun and fulfilling way to study public opinion - by combining pizza and politics.

In the beginning of the fall semester, students from the upper-level political science course decided to apply what they were learning in classroom lectures to real world experience and created the Williamsport Pizza Research Project.

The nine-member club applied valuable information addressed in class regarding the process of polling.

The main idea behind the project was to taste several different pizzas from the area and collect the data in order to more accurately reflect the overall results.

Heading up the initiative, junior Taylor Volpe called various pizza shops and asked them to participate.

In all, nine pizzerias agreed to participate in the project. A different pizza was judged each week.

"Mostly, the responses I received were positive," Volpe said. "Only a few places that I called decide not to participate."

The pizza, which was rated on a scale from one to five with five being the highest, was given four separate scores, one vote each for the best cheese, crust, sauce and best-overall pizza.

"We attempted to get accurate results on a smaller scale by dividing the pizza into four separate categories and scoring them accordingly," Volpe said.

Although not every pizza pie in town was polled, the final votes were tallied and the results are in.

Joe's Pizza in Loyalsock Township took first place and received top honor, followed by Bart's Pizzeria in second, with Long Island Pizza rounding out the top three.

"The public's opinion determines many factors related to everyday life," Volpe said. "The purpose behind the poll was not just to taste good pizza, but to conduct an accurate poll in a proper manner."

Even though the poll was small in scale, students agreed that the first-hand experience demonstrated the impact and importance of polling related to public opinion.

"Accurate polling is the key to determining public opinion, which is a huge factor in determining public policy," Volpe said.

Volpe also noted that not all polls have a positive effect or are necessarily good.

The political science major points to the poor approval rating of the current president as an example, asserting that it was the negative polls that played a important role in the recent presidential election.

Other examples offered by Volpe include the public's opinion regarding the current bail-out efforts involving the housing and automobile markets by the federal government.

"Public opinion plays a big role in determining the direction our country goes, it affects our life and society on many different levels," said Volpe.

Volpe said his college experience so far has been an extremely positive one and that he enjoys the high standards of education, qualified professors and the small class sizes at Lycoming.

Dr. Jonathan Williamson, chair of the political science department at Lycoming, asserts the exercise was a fun way to teach students the correct method of conducting an accurate poll.

Williamson added, "More importantly, the pizza research project taught the students to address and understand the concerns of others while respecting differing opinions."