Voters must call research firms to account

As the elections approach, the results of the polls conducted by many polling firms are shared. Prof. Süleyman İrvan stated that the institutions that are accepted as guides in the world about the surveys definitely want the imprint information to be disclosed when announcing the results of the research, and that the Turkish Researchers Association, which was established to make regulations and audits in the field of public opinion surveys in our country, must ensure the accountability of the companies that claim to conduct public opinion surveys. Prof. Süleyman İrvan emphasizes that it is essential to establish a self-regulatory mechanism to prevent manipulative research, and recommends that news sites be cautious about publishing research results.

News sites should be cautious in publishing research results

Üsküdar University Faculty of Communication Dean Prof. Süleyman İrvan made his remarks on the survey studies conducted for the election results.

Imprint information should be disclosed in the results of the research

Prof. Süleyman İrvan stated that while the countdown to the election continued, the results of the polls of a different company were published almost every day and an election forecast was announced every day, and said:

"These predictions are also published on the social media accounts of these companies and users. There are two important institutions in the world that guide the surveys. The first of these institutions is the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR). They published ethical principles that set out how research findings should be published. According to these principles, when announcing the result of a research, imprint information must be given and in this imprint following criteria must be included; the name of the company conducting the survey, on whose behalf the survey was conducted, by which party or institution it was funded, on which dates it was carried out in the field, how many people it was conducted, that is, the size of the sample, the method by which the sample was determined; how the questions asked are expressed; it should be clearly stated whether it is applied by phone or face-to-face, what is the margin of error plus or minus, and how the undecided ones are distributed. The data disclosed by research companies that do not provide this information should not be considered reliable. Secondly, we can talk about the European Association for Public Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR). ESOMAR also emphasizes that research companies should provide imprint information when announcing the results of the research.".

Turkish Researchers’ Association should warn research companies

Stating that the Turkish Researchers’ Association (TÜAD), which was established to make regulations and audits in the field of public opinion surveys in Türkiye, should be more active in this process, Prof. Süleyman İrvan said, "At the same time, the accountability of companies that claim to conduct public opinion research should be ensured. TÜAD, which did not give any warning or advice regarding the last election campaign period, should warn the research companies in accordance with the objectives of the association.”.

News sites must be wary of research results

Prof. Süleyman İrvan expressed his recent observations as follows: "Before reporting the results of the research, news sites must definitely request imprint information from research companies and should not report the researches they do not find reliable in terms of research technique. Just as it is necessary to stay away from fake news that consists of deliberately distorted information and qualifies as disinformation, research that gives the impression that it has no basis should be approached in the same way."

Self-regulatory mechanisms should be established

Prof. Süleyman İrvan listed the methods of understanding that the survey was reliable as follows: "First of all, as media-literate citizens, we should first look at the source, just like other news. If the research company is a well-known company, if it has performed well in previous elections and has proven that it is not a company intended to manipulate election results, we can rely more on the research of this company. Make sure to look at the imprint information of the research in the published news. This information will also inform us about the research. A new research company may well be doing proper research. The only way to understand this is to have complete information about the survey. If we cannot establish self-regulatory mechanisms, we will not be able to prevent manipulative research.".

Voters must call research firms to account

Prof.  Süleyman İrvan stated that a real research can show the political tendencies at the time when it was conducted and said that "It is possible that a research result announced today will be different from the election result because voter preferences may vary during the campaign process. Thus, we, as citizens, should use the polls to learn about voter trends. However, we must look not only at the results, but also at whether the survey is credible or not. Although people today accept the results of research that support their worldview as correct and those that do not support them as wrong, the main thing is to evaluate research conducted in accordance with objective criteria and not to take others into account. In this process, of course, we, as responsible citizens, can also force research companies to be accountable. If you see a research company on social media that only discloses results, force them to disclose the imprint information of the research. Do not share research that you do not find reliable.".

 

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)