by Richard Jenkins | Jul 25, 2012 | Public Opinion, Public Policy
The most recent shootings in a Colorado movie theatre by a man armed with an automatic weapon has hardly caused a ripple in terms of public demands for gun control. In one way, this is strikingly surprising because we expect dramatic events such of this to focus...
by Richard Jenkins | Jul 19, 2012 | Consumer and brand behaviour, Public Opinion
There are no shortage of real world indicators of economic performance of an economy and its implications for everyday citizens but sometimes a public opinion measure offers us a clear alternative to hard economic stats. Since 2004, consumer sentiment about the...
by Richard Jenkins | Jul 17, 2012 | Survey methodology
Do you want companies to send you or expose you to irrelevant ads? I think not. But maybe this intuition of mine is wrong. What is needed is a scientific study. Thankfully, SAS and Leger Marketing asked some questions on this topic recently. They found that: 60% of...
by Richard Jenkins | Jun 12, 2012 | Company News
You might have noticed that I have been somewhat silent over the past couple of months. It is not just your imagination. Work and life got in the way, which is not an excuse or an apology, and before I knew it I had missed some blog time. When I started my blog and...
by Richard Jenkins | Apr 24, 2012 | Elections, Survey methodology
There will be much hand wringing, considerable hyperbole, and lots of pseudo theories/ explanations for why the polls did not foresee the Conservative majority coming in the 2012 Alberta provincial election. Some attention will inevitably be placed on...
by Richard Jenkins | Mar 20, 2012 | Survey methodology
Question scales come in two types: seesaws and stairs. The main point of differentiation of the two ideal-types is the presence or absence of a tipping point. See saws have them and stairs do not. When you are thinking about a scale, you need to ask yourself is there...
by Richard Jenkins | Mar 12, 2012 | Survey methodology
I have a love-hate relationship with the 10-point scale. Although it has considerable advantages over its much smaller cousins, the 7-point and 5-point scales, it also comes with some significant drawbacks. It seems to promise so much to the survey researcher. These...
by Richard Jenkins | Mar 1, 2012 | Industry News and Trends
Robots do wonderful things. They dispose of bombs and take care of other dangerous things us mortals would rather not do. They also vacuum your home if you have a roomba. All well and good unless they are calling your house! The recent controversy in Canada over the...
by Richard Jenkins | Feb 21, 2012 | Public Opinion
With several months of the Conservative majority in place, we can safely identify the direction on issues which clearly touch on Canadian values and culture. Most prominently, is the “law and order” agenda, much of which seems at odds with expert opinions...
by Richard Jenkins | Feb 15, 2012 | Public Policy
A couple of years into the decade and it seems possible that the decade will be defined in terms of its impact on the size and nature of public services/ benefits? Backlash against austerity are already occurring in Greece and there is considerable uncertainty about...
