Information on the Voters Satisfaction - Case Study Example

Research Evaluation Report Student’s name Institution Introduction The News-poll provides a concise and clear description of how the study was conducted. They also provide a clear description of the participants in the study, how they were chosen and the reasons for the same. This gives a clear perspective of the methodology used in selected o participants for the study. They have also provided information on the upper margin of error as which was +/- 3 percentage points. This enables the readers of the report to be aware that the results are a mere estimation and may vary from the actual results. The researchers collected the data by use of survey research to come up with the data. Survey research has come out as a prominent method of collecting survey data for election polling by research companies. They employed the use of telephone interviews conducted by trained interviewers across all Australian states, in both city and country areas. The researchers carried out a random selection of telephone numbers and respondents in the survey, settling on a sample size of 1116 interviewees. These interviewees are representatives of all the Australian voters who were due to participate in the country’s federal elections. Telephone interviews are preferred in such election poll surveys since they provide a more random sample and are not self-selective. It is relatively quick to administer telephone interviews and adaptable to suit a particular situation. They also enable the interviewer to provide any clarifications and guidance where the survey questions are not well understood by the respondents. The fact that only trained interviewers conduct the interviews increases the reliability and validity of the survey results. Type of survey data collected Data collected for election polling includes information on the voters’ opinions about the various candidates participating in the election exercise. The researchers in this election poll collected information about voter preferences as well as political parties to which the election participants belong to. They also collected information on those voters who were undecided in the run up to the election that was slated for September 7th 2013, otherwise referred to as uncommitted voters. This information provides the percentage of voters who are regarded as having a swing effect due to their un-decidedness. These are those voters whom the researchers refer to as the uncommitted voters. They were yet to make decisions on which candidate to vote for the prime minister position in the Australian elections. Such voters are the ones the candidates need to focus on, with the intention of convincing them to vote for them. Information on the voters’ satisfaction as well as dissatisfaction was collected for the two most popular candidates. These were identified as Rudd and Abbott. Information on the voters’ party preferences was also obtained. Voters’ preference rates for Labor, Coalition, Greens and other parties participating in the election was also obtained. This was narrowed further down to include only two most popular parties; Labor and Coalition. Information on how voters perceived the performance of the candidates in the election was also collected. The report also incorporates several detailed comparisons among various similar studies, carried out by News-poll over varied time periods. The use of similar research questions and designs ensures that the consistency of the results is maintained, making it possible to make comparisons and conclusions. This also ensures that generalizations and predictions can be made about the possible election outcomes for various participating candidates. The report also compares poll results from the year 2010 for the primary vote as well as party preferences. It also incorporates information excluded in the News-poll. Information such as an explanation as to why Labor party’s primary vote support indicated a slump to 33 per cent. This is the lowest primary vote support ever under Mr. Rudd as Prime Minister. They assert that this result of Treasury and Finance’s repudiation of the government's claims on the cost of Coalition promises. They also explain what the effects of the swing votes will have on the outcome of the elections. They state the swing vote effect to be the possible loss of 14 seats - five in NSW, four in Queensland, three in Victoria and one each in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Labor MPs, including former treasurer Wayne Swan and Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury, would lose their seats. As such, the newspaper article seems to provide When did they collect the data? The survey data has been conducted over a long period of time, with the most recent being the end of the month of August. Recent survey data was conducted in the run up to the Australian federal election, particularly for the position of the Country’s Prime Minister. The Months of July and August 2013 have been given consideration since it is the closest time to the elections and most voters are expected to have made up their minds. Why did they collect these data and not others? The data enables the researchers to make comparisons among the various parties and individual contenders for the position of the country’s prime minister. It shows the highest dissatisfaction rating and the lowest satisfaction. It was important to collect data on the voters’ opinions and preferences so as to come up with predictions on the likely winner of the elections. They also collected the information to help them predict what issues voters’ considered to be important in deciding which candidate to vote for. The information also helps to explain how the qualities of the participating candidates will affect the voters’ decisions. It helps to show how much support a particular candidate has over others and the reasons for his popularity. By the interviewers asking those respondents who were uncommitted to state to which party they had an inclination to, they attempt to find out for what party the undecided voters would most probably vote. Methodological approach Evaluation The choice to use quantitative methodological approaches is effective since the researchers want to collect data from voters’ so as to make predictions on the outcomes of the elections. The fact that the researchers intended to make generalizations about the likely outcome of the elections, makes quantitative research methodology ideal. Polling studies require a high degree of objectivity and hence to use quantitative research methodology that promises a relatively higher objectivity rating. Quantitate research approaches usually have a relatively lower bias rate among respondents. Biases and random errors in research reduce the degree to which the research findings are representative of the population from which the sample was selected from. It provides for the control of possible external factors that might affect the responses from the participants in the study. Appropriateness of the Research design used in the study The researchers used surveys as the most ideal methodology to collect data for this particular study. The decision to use surveys, which is a quantitative research methodology, was effective in this particular research since politics is a social science and were done through telephone employing professional interviewers. Telephone surveys are effective where researchers need to provide reliable data such as polling studies where accuracy and reliable are required. They reduce the measurement error of non-response from the survey participants. Thus the chances of the survey findings being distorted are greatly reduced. The sample selection procedures have been adequately described by the researchers. By choosing to conduct the surveys on all the states in both city and country, the sampling frame can be said to be adequate and representative of the whole Australian electorate. Thus we can argue that the survey sample matches with the whole electorate population. Adequate training of the interviewers ensures that non-response bias is minimized. The survey questions are appropriate and help to provide adequate responses useful in making generalizations about possible election outcomes. The researchers have also indicated that they did weighting of the survey data so as reflect the population distribution. Weighting survey data ensures that reliable conclusions can be drawn from the collected survey data. It ensures that the data is representative of the whole population. Though there is no information on how weighting was done in this particular study, it is usually done by considering variables such as age, gender, marital status or region of the respondents. The fact that the respondents were chosen randomly, means that there is a chance that the sample selected is not representative of these variables. The researchers have also indicated the margin of sampling error present in the study. The margin of sampling error arises due to the fact that it is unrealistic to seek responses from all members of a given population under study. The sampling error also affects the reliability and accuracy of the study results. In both the News-poll and newspaper article, we are not told whether the anonymity and confidentiality of participants was guaranteed. As such we are unable to conclusively state whether or not principles of ethical research on the part of the poll respondents were followed or not. No information regarding whether participation was voluntary or not. It is not clear whether the participants were given information with regard to their right to participate or withdraw from the study if they felt so.. Looking at the title of the newspaper article and the research questions presented in the News-poll, we can conclude that the research questions developed were ideal for the study. The questions are clear and well worded providing adequate simplicity for the respondents to understand them and provide appropriate responses. As such, it is possible to conduct the study with a new set of participants and the results would be similar. Conclusion The newspaper article’s introduction and title provide a summary of the major points and a statement of the particular issues analyzed in the News-poll study. It thus arouses the readers’ anticipation to continue reading and evaluating the rest of the article. It thus becomes clear that the author of the article has a clear comprehension of the issues that were being investigated by the News-poll study. Although there is information on the survey that was conducted, the News-poll researchers failed to provide the readers with adequate information about any tests, instruments, or specific interview items formulated for the study. We are therefore not sure whether we can gain access to these materials in order to determine the validity and reliability of the study. The setting of the study has been explained as telephone interviews and thus we are able to determine how the researches interacted with the respondents in the study. We can therefore determine the consistency of the research questions and the characteristics of the respondents. Read More