Social surveys as a method of public opinion research



The article considers social surveys as a method of public opinion research.

Keywords: public opinion, public opinion research, social survey, questionnaire, interview, target audience.

В статье рассматриваются социальные опросы как метод исследования общественного мнения.

Ключевые слова : общественное мнение, исследование общественного мнения, социальный опрос, анкетирование, интервью, целевая аудитория.

Introduction

Today, PR is an integral part of marketing, contributing to the creation, maintenance and strengthening of communication between an organization and its associated public. Thanks to PR, enterprises develop and maintain a positive reputation and image of their company. In order to do this, organizations need to receive feedback from their target audience. Based on public opinion, a strategy is built to improve the quality of the goods and services provided, which further affects the reputation of the organization and potential profit. There are many methods for researching public opinion, among which the most popular are social surveys.

Basic concepts

Public opinion research plays an important role in many aspects of our lives. This is part of two-way communication between the organization and its public; feedback, on the basis of which tactics are built that allow to rethink possible shortcomings and adapt to the preferences of the groups of people the organizations are interested in, the target audience. Its analysis is an important stage in the production and distribution of any particular product.

According to the Glossary of Terms for PR-Specialists, public opinion is understood as “a state of mass consciousness, which includes an attitude to events and processes.” This concept can also be interpreted as “the view of society or its individual groups on something, expressing the position of approval or condemnation, regulating the behavior of individuals, developing certain norms of social relations” [3, p. 53].

There are three main and most common methods of researching public opinion. They include:

— sociological research, the task of which is to find out the attitudes and opinions of the public through the use of experiments, observations, polls, questionnaires, interviews, etc.;

— communicatory audit conducted to analyze the inconsistencies that arise in communication between the management of organizations and target groups of the public;

— informal research. This includes methods that do not require direct intervention in the work of research objects, such as: accumulation and analysis of facts, analysis of documentary sources, statistics, information materials [6].

Social surveys and their types

The sociological research of public opinion implies «the study of the attitude of large social groups towards the actual problems of reality with the help of sociological methods». In addition to surveys, observations and questionnaires, researchers often use methods such as the focus group method and the method of expert assessments. In addition, materials obtained in the course of nationwide discussions of social problems, elections, referendums, etc. are analyzed [9, p. 201].

Surveys are the most common method of collecting primary information about objective or subjective facts from the words of the respondent. They include a set of methods that allow you to identify and track the assessments, opinions, judgments of various groups of people. The most common and frequently used in recent years are the following written and oral methods:

— questionnaire self-filling method;

— interview method

— telephone survey method [9, p. 201].

The questionnaire self-filling method or questionnaire survey is a means of obtaining information about public opinion, used in sociological, socio-psychological, marketing, economic, demographic research. According to A. E. Podgorny, “when using questionnaire survey method, each person from the group of respondents must answer the questions of the questionnaire. Questions can be open and closed, as well as objective (about education, age, wages, etc.) and subjective (about attitudes towards living conditions or certain events and personalities)” [1, p. 217].

Questionnaire, as a method of conducting a survey, has the following advantages:

— the ability to reach a large group of respondents;

— high speed of information collection;

— simple information processing;

— convenience of filling out questionnaires (the possibility of completing a survey at any convenient time, via phone or computer).

The disadvantages of questionnaires are as follows:

— limited horizons in relation to identifying the personal characteristics of the respondents;

— the answers are not always complete enough to formulate a conclusion;

— low level of flexibility, because you can not interfere in the process of questioning;

— low objectivity of answers due to a limited list of questions [4, p. 27].

Interview is a type of survey method, a special kind of purposeful communication with a person or group of people. The interview is based on a conversation in which the roles of the participants are fixed, normalized, and the goals are determined by the design of the objectives of the study. The success of the event, the completeness and quality of the information received largely depend on the nature of communication between the interlocutors (the person taking the interview and the person or persons giving interviews) as well as on “the closeness of contact and the degree of mutual understanding between the two parties” [2, p. 246].

The interview as a social survey method has the following advantages:

— the opportunity, in the course of working with the respondent, to take into account the level of their preparation, determine their attitude to the topic of the survey, individual problems, fix intonation and facial expressions;

— the ability to flexibly change the wording of questions, taking into account the personality of the respondent and the content of previous answers;

— the opportunity to put additional (clarifying, suggestive, explanatory, etc.) questions;

— the ability to create a relaxed atmosphere during the conversation, contributing to obtaining more sincere answers.

The main disadvantages are as follows:

— high workload;

— small number of respondents [2, p. 246].

Speaking of such a method as a telephone survey , it’s used much more often than interviews. “Almost all stages of conducting a telephone survey are 2–3 times cheaper than a personal interview” [5, p. 207].

The main advantages of a telephone survey are the following:

— high efficiency;

— low costs;

— more flexible management and control of surveys.

Disadvantages of a telephone survey:

— the requirement for brevity of the questionnaire and, consequently, a decrease in the amount of meaningful information;

— the difficulty of an equivalent replacement of the respondent in case of refusal to participate in the survey;

— simplified wording and construction of questions related to the peculiarities of telephone communication;

— chance of poor connection quality [5, p. 207].

The research of public opinion by the above methods is used on the basis of a sample population. A sample is “a part of the general totality, formed with the help of special methods and procedures, the results of the survey of which are distributed to the general totality”. Residents of a certain country, a separate locality, employees of a particular enterprise, etc. can act as a general totality. Regarding this totality, the conclusions of a selective study are drawn [8, p. 6].

The most famous company focused on studying public opinion through social surveys in Russia is VTSIOM. The company's activity is aimed at obtaining, analyzing and disseminating reliable information about the state and dynamics of social development, public opinion, mass consciousness and behavior characteristic of various social groups and territorial communities [10].

Surveys aimed at studying public opinion are necessary to obtain general opinions on a particular phenomenon in the social, political and economic spheres of life. VTSIOM determined who, in the opinion of Russians, needs public opinion surveys, what are the goals of their conduct, and whether their results should be published in the media. Thus, Russians believe that public opinion surveys:

— are of interest primarily to politicians (46 %) and sociologists themselves (41 %);

— are of interest to the media (26 %);

— are of interest to all citizens of the Russian Federation (22 %);

— are a useful event to inform everyone about the state of affairs in society (55 %);

— help convey the opinion of the general public to the authorities (77 %) [7].

Conclusion

The public opinion is a general position or attitude towards any phenomenon or object, expressed by a group of people or society, which does not claim to be objective, but unites the set of subjective points of view of each member of the public.

Public opinion surveys exist to collect and analyze public feedback. They can be carried out through:

— sociological research;

— communicatory audit;

— informal research.

The sociological research of public opinion involves the use of sociological methods to collect information about the points of view of social groups about certain public phenomena. The main of such methods is a social survey, which includes the following written and oral methods to identify public opinion:

— questionnaire self-filling method;

— interview method;

— telephone survey method.

Among the listed methods, the most effective, low-cost and efficient method is the questionnaire method, which allows you to quickly cover a large group of respondents, quickly and easily process information, and enable respondents to choose the time and place of the survey that is most convenient for them.

It is safe to say that conducting social surveys is the key to the most effective and efficient collection of information and feedback on any subject or phenomenon.

References:

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