An independent panel of academics, including Paul Adams of Carleton’s journalism school, has released a report on the problems with public opinion polls in the Calgary election in the fall of 2017.
Paul Adams, Associate Professor, Journalism
The published opinion polls were widely off the mark in the election, in which Mayor Naheed Nenshi was re-elected by a margin of nearly eight percentage points. The most well-publicized polls, conducted by Mainstreet Research for Calgary’s two daily newspapers, the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, suggested the mayor would lose by a double-digit margin.
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Read the full report: MRIA Calgary Panel Final Report
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The panel, which was originally commissioned by the now-defunct Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), also included Dr. Christopher Adams of the University of Manitoba and Dr. David Zussman of the University of Victoria.
“We took a good hard look at what went wrong with the polls, but also with the failures of the media, especially the daily newspapers, to inform the public about the potential problems with the polls,” Paul Adams said. “We have recommendations for better standards for both pollsters and the media. We hope the recommendations originally aimed at the MRIA will inform a new body as it establishes new regulations.”
Wednesday, August 8, 2018 in General, Journalism News, News
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