- To gather information for policy development on issues like land use, the environment, healthcare, education or transportation
- To understand public opinion and attitudes related to funding levies or ballot initiatives
- As a public involvement tool that engages the public on an issue
- As a needs assessment to determine the scope and required funding for a project
- To measure performance and identify problems in service delivery for local governments or government departments
- To assess public attitudes on issues important to advocacy organizations
- To measure public support or opposition to a planned program, facility, property development, or change in service
- To measure awareness of a person, a product, a business or organization, or an advertisement
Public opinion: scientific and non-scientific surveys
While Essential Surveys does not conduct political polling, we do conduct public opinion research. Non-profits, government agencies, universities, and special interest groups frequently conduct public opinion research in order to take the pulse of the public pertaining to particular issues or to measure use of public lands, services, or facilities. Surveys are sometimes conducted with a segment of the public such as registered voters, property owners, those with a specific interest or occupation, those that use a specific service, or those that live within a particular district (e.g., fire district or port district). Private companies may also want to survey households within a specific geographic area concerning their shopping preferences and habits. So, there are many reasons for surveying the public:
To achieve reliable results, most public opinion research is conducted by telephone or mail. Email sampling of the public is improving, but is not yet on a par with mail or phone. On the other hand, email sampling of membership organizations or business leaders can be very accurate.
Online surveys of the public are sometimes used when reliability isn't an issue. These non-scientific surveys can be fun and interesting, and they can sometimes provide real food for thought, but they shouldn't be confused with research based on proper sampling. The results from non-scientific public polling should not be used to represent public opinion.
Essential Surveys conducts both scientific and non-scientific surveys. We can discuss the various options and their implications if you are interested in public opinion research.
