I was polled by Yougov yesterday. It was clearly a poll funded by some malingering trotskyite trade union with various leading questions about the horrid cuts.
But the poll contained two significant blunders. Firstly many of the questions confused government 'debt' and the government's 'deficit'- no doubt to the satisfaction of the union's political masters in Labour (who are deliberately confusing the two).
But most significantly in the voting intention question the Liberal Democrats were referred to as 'The Liberal Democrat Party', while Labour and Conservatives were described correctly. The Lib Dems were described correctly elsewhere in the survey.
Now question wording matters in market research - a lot. And as Yougov has consistently provided lower poll numbers for the Lib Dems than any other pollster - it's important to know whether it's a reflection of reality or a problem with their methodology. I don't know what the effect of getting the name of a party wrong (and adding a level of confusion to the participant) but it will impact on the findings.
I'm assuming it is a cock-up rather than conspiracy - but even so an organisation that wants to be taken seriously as a pollster ought to employ a proof reader to ensure consistency and accuracy in their questionnaires.
We OVER-estimated the level of LD support at the last election, Stephan Shakespeare, YouGov CEO
ReplyDeleteIndeed Stephan (and I'm assuming it is you). But that wasn't my point. It's a pretty sloppy methodology for a market research firm to get a political party's name wrong in a voting intention question.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what effect it may have - but it clearly will have an effect on the result of this poll. And as I said in the post I assume its a one off cock up - rather than anything systematic.
@Dan
ReplyDelete"But most significantly in the voting intention question the Liberal Democrats were referred to as 'The Liberal Democrat Party', while Labour and Conservatives were described correctly."
What? Seriously, are you suggesting that calling the libdems "The Liberal Democrat Party" would affect the poll? You're clutching at straws there!!!
"I'm assuming it is a cock-up rather than conspiracy - but even so an organisation that wants to be taken seriously as a pollster ought to employ a proof reader to ensure consistency and accuracy in their questionnaires."
You're are joking?
I fear that the Debt vs Deficit is a common misunderstanding and as such it doesn't surprise me that YouGov also gets this wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think if we emphasised this difference more Balls and Miliband's rhetoric may not get as much credit as it currently is.