Government Research — Using JAMA to Measure Impact of Public Policy

The term public opinion refers to the attitudes and positions the Nigerian populace hold on particular issues facing the country. These opinions can often be sharply divided or equally distributed. This blog post discusses the measurement of public opinion, including the development and use of opinion polling to measure public attitudes to public policy.

Public opinion on a particular issue usually changes only gradually, if at all. For example, in the United states, the distribution of opinion on abortion has hardly moved since the early 1970s. And In the rare case when public opinion shifts sharply on an issue, research shows that policy often follows suit.

It is also important to note that a president’s approval rating is usually measured by public opinion.

The measures gotten from a public opinion survey can be used to do any of the following;

• Prevent poor performance and misconduct.
• Encourages public participation
• Measures Government Performance
• Shapes Government’s Image
• Accountability of Government`
• Educates the public

Public opinion is an important part of politics in any government. It is a useful tool and is often used when referring to political issues. For example, let’s say Tope is a politician in an area suffering from severe violence. Tope wants to know how many people in his local government area favor a curfew, so he knows whether or not he’ll vote for the restriction of movement.

As a politician, Tope will likely want to monitor public opinion so he can accurately represent the views of the people in his local government. That’s why many government offices, and even the news media, keep a close watch on public opinion. Public opinion helps us understand the political views of the Nigerian people and what policies they support.

Measurement of Public Opinion

So, how do we know what the public thinks? There are a few ways public opinion is measured. One of the main ways is through public opinion polls. These are surveys commissioned by various groups in order to determine people’s thoughts on particular matters. Generally, a poll is initiated when someone wants a political question answered, like Tope’s question about the curfew restrictions. He needs to know how many people in his local government area support the idea. He needs to conduct a poll.

The JAMA online surveys platform acts a centralized and cost-effective way to monitor public opinion and carry out opinion polls that help decision makers and government officials keep a finger on the pulse of public opinion and sentiments in real time.

How Polling Works

Let’s take a look at how polling works. The JAMA platform strives to gather accurate statistics. First, the pollsters must carefully design their questions. In order to produce accurate polling results, the questions must be objectively worded. This means the questions are phrased to be neutral and impartial. The questions shouldn’t reflect the politician’s or the pollster’s views.

For example, in Tope’s poll, the pollster shouldn’t ask the citizens, ‘Do you resent the government telling you when to g out and come home?’ This question won’t likely produce an accurate response. Instead, the pollster should phrase the question more objectively. The pollster might say, ‘The government is considering movement restrictions in order to address concerns of violence. Do you support movement restrictions? Why or why not?’

After designing objective questions, the pollster or JAMA must select a polling sample. A sample is a section of people designed to accurately reflect the opinions of the overall population of a polling area.

Profiled people from target communities are readily available on JAMA which allow pollsters get a balanced view representing various demographics.

Avoiding Bias

A poll is also only as good as the respondents, and its validity clearly depends on their willingness to tell the truth about their positions.

Obviously, no poll is perfect. But if the pollster succeeds at generating a random sample, then between 1,200 and 1,500 people will give an accurate picture of national opinion. The level of accuracy is often called the margin of error and indicates how much answers will bounce around the truth from poll to poll. Some people wrongly assume that the margin must include the truth, so if a poll estimates that 54 percent of Nigerians oppose a Buhari second term with a margin of 3 percentage points, they assume the truth must lie between 51 percent and 57 percent.

This is not true, however. One time in 20 a poll will draw an unlucky sample, one that represents national opinion poorly, even if the pollster did everything right.

Polls are an integral part of democratic politics. Besides the polling organizations such as JAMA, the news media routinely conduct and report the results of their own surveys. Pollsters are also organizations that have high-profile positions on political campaigns. This concern for measuring public opinion indicates that public opinion is useful in understanding the positions of a people and what policies they support.

What Are Your Constituents Saying?

Find out what the public really think by taking advantage of JAMA’s opinion poll surveys such as employee surveys, 360 Feedback, and the Employee Feedback station.

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