The questions you ask are more important than the answers you get. I think that should be the mantra of every public opinion researcher and consumer of polls.
More important, good researchers must be inquisitive, open-minded, and prepared to understand and appreciate the true nature of the human being who is about to be tasked with completing your questionnaire.
My guest this week on inFocus knows a thing or two about writing survey questionnaires. She wrote a book about it.
Dr. Annie Pettit is a public opinion and market researcher with more than 20 years experience working with some of the leading research agencies in Canada. Dr. Pettit has a PhD in psychology from York University where she specialized in online survey data quality. She currently consults for a range of traditional and technology research suppliers, is a member of the Canadian Research Insights Council Standards Committee, and is chair of the Canadian ISO standards committee.
She’s also the author of the book “People Aren’t Robots: A practical guide to the psychology and technique of questionnaire design” published in 2016.
She joined me this week to talk about asking questions, writing questionnaires, and why this step in the research process is so important.
In this episode of inFocus, pollster David Coletto shares his perspective on the 2021 Canadian election results asking - what was it about? Tune in for this 20-minute briefing on what Abacus Data's polling over the campaign can tell us about the outcome and what it means going forward. ...
In the 2019 UK General Election, a political earthquake occurred. The Conservative Party led by Boris Johnson gain 48 seats in England, many of them coming in the North and Midlands regions of England, two regions that had voted solidly for Labour for almost 100 years. Now imagine if the Liberal Party of Canada won half or more seats in Alberta during a federal election – that’s the equivalent of what happened in the UK in 2019. Now, this shocker didn’t come from nowhere. For years, Labour support in the region was deteriorating and in 2016, most who live in these consistencies voted to leave the EU in the Brexit referendum. What happened in England that caused these safe Labour seats to switch to the Conservatives? How did the party of Margaret Thatcher convince these working-class constituencies to vote for a party that most would say didn’t represent their interests? My guest on this episode of inFocus is UK pollster Deborah Mattinson, the founder of polling firm BritainThinks. Deborah was a pollster to former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In 2010, she published Talking to a Brick Wall – the story of the New Labour years from the eyes of voters. Her latest book “Beyond the Red Wall” explores how British “left behind” communities created the electoral earthquake in 2019. I just finished reading the book and am thrilled that Deborah agreed to talk with me. It’s a fascinating read and I believe her findings need to be read and understood for anyone interested in politics, public affairs, and the future of democracy in the UK, the US, and Canada. ...
In this episode of inFocus, I look at our final pre-election survey and explore the state of the election a day after the election officially kicks off. For all the details on the poll check out the release on the Abacus Data website.Thanks for listening. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send them along to [email protected] ...
