Methods 101: How is polling done around the world?
Summary
TLDRThis script explores the complexities of conducting international polls, emphasizing the need to adapt to each country's unique technological, societal, and cultural dynamics. It highlights challenges such as government restrictions, varying communication infrastructures, and the importance of language translation. The video underscores the significance of local expertise and the use of technology like GPS-enabled devices to ensure rigorous and representative sampling. It also stresses the importance of question translation consistency to maintain survey integrity across different languages and cultures.
Takeaways
- 🌍 International polling is complex due to varying conditions and requirements across different countries.
- 🏛️ Government regulations can limit the scope of polling questions or even discourage public opinion research in some nations.
- 🚫 Safety concerns such as armed conflicts or political unrest may prohibit polling in certain regions.
- 🔍 The availability of research infrastructure and skilled local partners is crucial for conducting high-quality surveys.
- 📊 Polling methods must be tailored to the predominant communication channels in each country, such as online, telephone, or face-to-face interviews.
- 🏡 In-person polling presents logistical challenges, including deciding where to send interviewers and dealing with the lack of addresses in some countries.
- 📱 Technological advancements like GPS and satellite imagery aid in conducting surveys in areas without reliable mapping.
- 🗣️ Language is a key consideration; questionnaires often need to be translated into multiple languages to ensure comprehension and comparability.
- 🔗 Translations must maintain the consistency of meaning to avoid misinterpretation across different linguistic groups.
- 🔍 Local experts are invaluable for reviewing survey questions for cultural and political sensitivities.
- 🔧 Pre-testing surveys in all languages can help identify and rectify confusing or misleading translations.
Q & A
What are the challenges faced when conducting international polls?
-International polling faces challenges such as government restrictions, legal limitations, political unrest, lack of local expertise, and varying levels of technology and infrastructure across countries.
Why might governments limit or restrict the content of questionnaires in polls?
-Governments may insist on approving questionnaires to control the information gathered, potentially limiting the scope of questions that can be asked to avoid sensitive topics.
How does the presence of armed conflicts or political unrest affect polling?
-In regions with armed conflicts or political unrest, it can be dangerous to conduct surveys, thus limiting the feasibility of gathering public opinion data.
What factors determine the method of administering interviews in international polls?
-The method of administering interviews depends on factors like internet access, telephone usage, and the feasibility of in-person interviewing, which varies by country.
How do pollsters ensure a diverse population is reached during face-to-face interviews?
-Pollsters carefully plan where to send interviewers to reach a diverse population, considering the time and financial costs of traveling across a country.
What role do GPS-enabled devices play in international polling?
-GPS-enabled devices like tablets and smartphones, along with satellite imagery, assist interviewers in conducting random sampling in areas lacking addresses or up-to-date maps.
Why is it important to translate questionnaires into multiple languages for international polls?
-Translation ensures that the questionnaire is understandable to respondents in their native language, which is crucial for accurate data collection.
What challenges arise when translating questionnaires for international polls?
-Translation challenges include maintaining consistency of meaning across languages, avoiding idioms, and ensuring that local cultural and political sensitivities are considered.
How does the Pew Research Center handle language diversity in its global surveys?
-The Pew Research Center translates its surveys into multiple languages, such as over 40 languages for its 2018 Global Attitudes Survey, including 11 languages for India alone.
What strategies can help ensure the quality of translations in international polling?
-Strategies include having local experts review questions, avoiding idioms, ensuring consistent meaning across translations, and testing the survey in all languages if resources allow.
Why is it critical to work with local professionals when conducting international polls?
-Local professionals have the necessary training and cultural understanding, which is critical for addressing the unique technological, societal, and cultural dynamics of each country.
Outlines
🌐 International Polling Challenges
This paragraph discusses the complexities of conducting international polls. It highlights that polling methods must be adapted to different countries due to varying political, security, and cultural environments. The challenges include government regulations that may limit survey content, legal restrictions on public opinion research, and safety concerns due to conflicts or unrest. Additionally, the availability of local partners with the necessary expertise and infrastructure is crucial. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of considering these factors before conducting rigorous survey research across the globe.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Polling
💡International Poll
💡Rigorous Survey Research
💡Government Regulations
💡Technology
💡Face-to-Face Interviewing
💡Translation
💡Cultural Sensitivity
💡Random Sampling
💡Mode of Survey Administration
💡Representative Cross Section
Highlights
International polling is essential for understanding global perspectives on various issues.
Polling methods must be adapted to the unique challenges of each country.
Government approval may be required for questionnaires, influencing what can be surveyed.
Laws in some countries may discourage or even prohibit public opinion research.
Armed conflicts or political unrest can make certain areas too dangerous for polling.
The novelty of polling in some regions means a lack of experienced local partners.
Researchers must assess the availability of research infrastructure and skills on the ground.
Safety conditions for fieldwork and government regulations are critical considerations.
Online polling is feasible in countries with widespread internet access.
Telephone surveys are effective where telephone usage is more common.
Face-to-face interviewing is used in areas with limited internet or phone access.
Face-to-face polling requires careful planning to reach a diverse population.
Technology like GPS-enabled devices aids in random sampling in areas without addresses.
Translation of questionnaires is crucial for survey accuracy across languages.
Consistency in translation is key to ensuring comparable meanings across languages.
Avoiding idioms and cultural phrases is important for clear question comprehension.
Local experts should review questions for cultural and political sensitivities.
Survey testing in all languages helps identify potential confusion or misinterpretation.
No one-size-fits-all approach exists for international polling; it requires country-specific strategies.
Collaboration with trained local professionals is essential for successful international polling.
Transcripts
- How is polling done around the world?
(quirky strings music) (marker scratching)
International polling provides information
about how people in different countries
are thinking about issues like immigration,
technology, religion, you name it.
But polling in different parts of the world
can be very challenging,
because what works in one country
may not work in a different country.
For this episode of Methods 101,
I'm enlisting the help of some of my colleagues
who grapple with those challenges every day.
- The first step in conducting
an international poll is determining where
it's possible to conduct rigorous survey research.
In some countries, governments insist
on approving the questionnaire,
thus potentially limiting what can be asked.
In other cases, laws may discourage
public opinion research altogether.
Also, armed conflicts or political unrest
can make it too dangerous to survey
in certain parts of the world,
but keep in mind, it's not just the political
or security environment that matters.
Polling is a relatively new enterprise
in some parts of the world,
so there may not be many local partners
who have the experience and knowhow
to conduct high-quality surveys.
The bottom line is that researchers
have to carefully consider whether
the necessary research infrastructure and skills
are available on the ground,
whether conditions are safe for field work,
and whether government regulations make it possible
to ask the kinds of questions researchers need to ask.
- So after pollsters decide which countries to survey
they need to determine how to administer the interview.
In some countries, nearly everyone has internet access,
making online polling feasible.
In other parts of the world, telephone usage is higher
so telephone surveys are more effective
for reaching a representative cross section of the public.
But, in countries where many people
are not easily reached by the internet or phone,
in person or face-to-face interviewing is often used.
However, this type of polling
comes with its own set of challenges.
For example, pollsters conducting face-to-face surveys
have to think carefully about where to send each interviewer
in order to reach a diverse set of the population
while balancing the time and money it requires
to travel across a country.
Also, in some countries, nearly all households
have addresses making it more straight-forward
to draw a national sample, but in other countries,
many households don't have an address
which poses a challenge for interviewers in the fields.
Fortunately, thanks to technology,
fields interviewers are increasingly provided with
GPS-enabled tablets, smartphones, and even satellite imagery
to help them conduct random sampling in locations
where addresses or up-to-date maps are not available.
- It's also important to determine
which languages are spoken in a country
so that researchers can translate
the questionnaire when needed.
Here at the Pew Research Center, for example,
we translated our 2018 Global Attitudes Survey
into more than 40 languages,
including 11 languages in India alone.
Translation raises a whole other set of challenges
around consistency though, as researchers want questions
to be comparable in terms of meaning,
no matter what language they're administered in.
For instance, to translate the phrase "a free society,"
you want to ensure that "free" is translated
to mean "open" or "unrestrained" as opposed to without cost.
It's also important to avoid idioms or phrases
that may be common in one country but not in another.
And whenever possible, it's a good strategy
to have local experts review questions
for any cultural or political sensitivities to be aware of.
If resources allow, testing the survey in all the languages
will help identify whether a translation is confusing
or likely to be misinterpreted.
- So, as you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all approach
to conducting an international poll.
Success depends on addressing the technological,
societal, and cultural dynamics unique to each country,
and working with professionals who are trained
and local to the country
is a critical part in making that happen.
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