For this series, I interviewed a number of Canada's leading pollsters via email. I'll be posting the transcripts of these email interviews over the next few weeks here to accompany the Globe articles. Today, we talk to Don Mills, Chairman and CEO of the Corporate Research Associates. This Halifax-based firm conducts its political polling over the telephone with live-callers - though in a growing trend, they have just recently announced the launch of a new online panel. Firms that stick to only one mode to do their polling are becoming rarer and rarer.
308: While other firms have moved to
online panels and IVR polling, CRA continues to use live-callers. Why have you
stuck with this methodology?
DM: The
methodology has stood the test of time. Our industry standards do not allow the
use of margin of error for online research which are considered samples of
convenience. Many companies violate industry standards in this regard. We agree
with that standard.
308: What do you consider the
strengths of telephone polling with live-callers compared to other
methodologies?
DM: Its
ability to produce random representative samples is still the biggest strength
in my opinion.
308: What are its limitations?
DM: Very
costly relative to other methodologies in terms of data collection and also
hard to find those in the 18-24 year old age group to interview,
308: Generally speaking, how does
telephone polling compare to other methodologies in terms of costs and effort?
DM: Generally
it depends on the population to be surveyed and the length of the survey. Hard
to reach segments are particularly expensive for telephone research. For
general population type research, telephone research is likely 25% or
more expensive than online on average.
308: What challenges do you face in
building a representative sample, considering falling response rates and
increased use of cell phones over landlines?
DM: Response
rates for public opinion type research have not actually changed dramatically
in the last number of years. It has always been difficult, but not impossible,
to find those aged 18-24 years old. Interestingly enough, although those 18-24
are more likely to use cell phones personally, there is also a high proportion
who still live at home with their parents who have landlines and who can still
be reached on landlines as a consequence.
308: What role does weighting play in
producing accurate results?
DM: Weighting
is still important in random telephone research to properly reflect the known
distribution of the population. It is nearly impossible to have proportional
representation in random telephone research.
308: CRA has been in the business for
a very long time. How has political polling changed over the years?
DM: Surprisingly
little in my opinion. Young people continue to be disengaged in the political
process for the most part as in the past. Older people continue to believe in
the process and to be the most likely to vote. I think the challenge today is
mainly among those in the child rearing years who have very busy lives with
their children with little time to think about anything but their jobs and
their families. This is the group that is likely now less engaged in the
political process as a result.
308: How has the business of polling
in general changed?
DM: There
was a time when media invested in polling that was not just about the horse
race, delving more into the issues to better understand the basis for
supporting parties. This is no longer the case. Political polling is much more
superficial than it was in the past.
308: Do you face any particular
challenges as a pollster based in Atlantic Canada?
DM: Not
particularly. Our company has a well established reputation which helps us when
collecting public opinion. We have always been a non-partisan company and have
never conducted polling for any political party. I think that enhances our
creditability with both the political parties and the media. I believe our
track record has been outstanding as well.
308: Your polls tend to be conducted
over several weeks, instead of over a few days. Why is that, and what are the
benefits or problems associated with this?
DM: Most of
our political polling is done on a predictable quarterly basis, the same period
each year. The consistency of our process provides a larger time frame than we
would if we were working with media. In that case, doing survey over a few
weeks rather than a few days is not really an issue. Our media work is
normally over shorter time periods, although the rolling polling we did for the
Telegraph Journal in the last New Brunswick election was pretty much a gold standard for tracking
change over the course of the election.
308: CRA also tends to have some of
the largest proportions of undecideds of any polls produced in Canada. Why?
DM: Most
of the time we do not try to force an opinion. We also report those undecided,
don’t plan to vote and prefer not to say together in the our numbers while
other companies do not. This looks like the percentage of undecided is higher
than is actually the case. Near elections, we typically ask a leaning towards
question which reduces the undecided percentage considerably. I have never
personally worried about those undecided because my experience is that a lot of
those people are not actively engaged and probably don’t vote and those that do
vote along the line of the decided group.
308: What changes, if any, need to be
made to ensure that telephone polling produces good results in the future?
DM: We
have strict standards for telephone research such as assuring that interviewers
are well trained and respectful, that the proper number of callbacks are done
properly. Adherence to the standards necessary to conduct valid telephone
research remains the key to achieving reliable results. There needs to be some
industry effort to promote the value of participating in survey research as a
benefit for citizens as well. In a free society, how much value is associated
with the ability to express your opinions in the hope of changing life for the
better?
