The Aces of Info need you to answer a survey on the place of current affairs in your life! But first, do you know what surveys are for? I discussed it with Sylvain Gauthier, who works at Léger, the firm that created this survey with us.
To begin with, what is a survey?
It is the act of asking questions of a group of people to find out their opinion on a subject. This group of people is called a sample. It must be representative of the entire target population, therefore include people of all ages, all regions, all genders, etc.
What’s the point ?
I will take the example of a real survey carried out with children. The Montreal Science Center wanted to know their tastes in exhibitions. We organized a discussion group with children to find out what makes them tick in a museum. Then, the Center was able to use this data to make decisions for its future exhibitions!
Do you ever ask funny questions?
We have some seemingly bizarre types of questions, but which are very revealing. For example: if this bank were an animal, what animal would it be? If people respond that the bank reminds them of a wolf, it is because its image is not very positive.
Can you tell if someone is lying when answering a survey?
Maybe yes, maybe no. But we have a few things:
• Surveys done online are more reliable than those done by telephone. On the web, people feel freer to express themselves, especially if their point of view is unpopular.
• When a person has answers that contradict each other or are implausible, their answers are removed from the results.
• If a person completes a questionnaire very quickly, this may indicate to us that they have not read all the questions, which skews the results.
• Sometimes we insert trick questions to which everyone knows the answers (for example: tick the statement that talks about a dog). Those who don’t answer it correctly are eliminated, because it means they haven’t read the question.
It’s now up to you to respond to the survey Ace of information ! Scan this QR code to answer it. Thanks in advance !
Lysiane Alexandre — Collaborator
Want to know more?
Do you like to understand the news?
Come take a look at lesasdelinfo.com. We also have a whole section for teachers!
An Information Coops initiative supported by the Government of Canada.
