Description
Polling is used daily by every democracy around the world, to get an accurate picture of what a country's population wants at any given time. Polling shapes expectations and provides information that informs policy. Is better health care, more rigorous action against climate change, or affordable housing that is top of mind for the people? It can influence how people act and behave. It has the attention of those in the highest echelons of power.
However, is a poll the right tool to inform a government's decisions about complex policy trade-offs? How much trust should be placed in polls given their limitations, and concerns with how they are being used and portrayed? Given this tool's influence, we should all know more about what a poll is, what a good poll looks like, and how to be savvy and thoughtful poll users.
Join us on December 3, 2020, for a conversation on everything polling with Anil Arora, Chief Statistician at Statistics Canada, Claire Durand, Professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Montreal, and Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist and Founder of Nanos Polling. Together, they will explore such issues as how the media affects polling consumption and quality, whether polls are suffering from fewer and less diverse participants, and what intelligent consumers should look for when trying to figure out the quality of a poll.
Video: CSPS Virtual Café Series: Everything You Wanted to Know About Polling with Anil Arora, Claire Durand and Nik Nanos
Learn more about the CSPS Virtual Café Series.
Speakers
- Anil Arora, Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada
- Claire Durand, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Montreal
- Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist and Founder, Nanos Research
Moderator
Taki Sarantakis, President, Canada School of Public Service
