Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

I picked a copy of this up from a local children's centre and being a former research and statistics person dealing with consultation and surveys I have to say that I find this survey extremely poorly designed (the online version has layout issues as well) and fear that any results will be highly unreliable, biased, full of gaps and misinformed. For example on one hand it says that the allocation for schools/children centres cannot be changed as this is funded by government grants but then in the next breath it asks you to allocate portions of the £4500 (per household) spend to the various services including schools/children centres. In addition it asks you what options on cuts/increasing charges would you SUPPORT with no sense of priority or idea of what the impact might be if these options were implemented - you have the option of choosing 'None of the above' to everything - and if the majority of respondents did that where would that leave the Council? 'Support' is a strange term to use. I understand cuts have to be made and suggest it would make more sense to be given the options and asked to rate preferences i.e what would be the most acceptable down to what would be totally unacceptable.

I will try to complete this survey in a considered, informed way but I feel it's going to be like pulling teeth. It'll be interesting to see what the response rate it.

See what you think.
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/news_and_events/latest_news/shapin...

Tags for Forum Posts: Council, Shaping, consultation, future, our, spending, survey

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i.e what would be the most acceptable down to what would be totally unacceptable.
Agree.

This survey is about the worst of its type, chock-full of misleading. The questions themselves are poorly framed, tendentious-as-usual, but I comment here on only one aspect of the execrable methodology:

Anyone with knowledge of social surveys knows that it is possible to conduct a scientific survey: this is not one of them. If a survey is to be conducted along scientific lines it is imperative that the sample is taken randomly (e.g every 100th name in the phone book).

The basic flaw of this survey, which will render any result worthless (as well as a waste of time and money) is that it is a self-selecting sample.

The principle and vital importance of obtaining a random sample has been known for decades and it is frankly shocking that in the 21st century, a local authority in Europe's biggest city can employ anyone who might think this is a well-designed survey. Apart from the self-selecting flaw, what controls are there to prevent a single individual (or group) from making multiple entries?

Perhaps the 'officers' who dreamt up this survey need to find employment better suited to their talents (or take lessons from professional pollsters). If this survey has any purpose, it is surely not to gain an accurate reflection of public opinion. It is a disgrace and is every bit as independent and objective as Haringey People magazine.
Truly a terribly designed survey, you can skip most of the personal details stuff at the end if you don't wish them to have those details.

This survey link should stop you having to trawl through the ramblings of the website.
Yeah, us amateurs have already given it a rough ride over here. It's box ticking so of course it's not a very good job.

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