Making surveys less transparent

by RAISSA ROBLES Vera Files (The Manila Times)

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/top-stories/11554-making-surveys-less-transparent

Voters are deluged with surveys during the election season. But they can better appreciate and understand these surveys with the following tips from Dr. Elena Pernia, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication and communications research professor.

• Find out who the persons behind the polling firm are and go by their track record.
• New firms like StratPOLLS still have to prove themselves.
• The quality of respondents matters over sample size at a certain point. If one firm has 2,400 respondents and another 800 but “it’s quality 800,” then the latter can more accurately reflect the sentiments of the general population. Sample quality depends on many factors like the sample design, assumptions, procedure and technique.
• The firms’ data should be open to scrutiny.
Under the Fair Election Act or Republic Act (R.A.) 9006, anyone can conduct polls provided the published survey results state who commissioned it, the organization which conducted it and when, the methodology, sample size, areas covered, margin of error, specific questions asked, plus address and phone number of the sponsor.

As a safeguard, R.A. 9006, specifies that “the survey together with raw data . . . shall be available for inspection, copying and verification by the Commission on Elections or by a registered political party or a bona fide candidate, or by any Comelec-accredited citizens’ arm,” for which a reasonable fee may be charged.

Last week, the Comelec promulgated Resolution No 8758 to implement the Fair Election Act. Section 30 of the resolution states, “The survey together with raw data gathered to support its conclusions shall be available for inspection, copying and verification by the commission. Any violation of this section shall constitute an election offense.” It has dropped the inspection by the candidate, political party or citizens’ arm altogether even though this is explicitly provided by RA 9006.