Do surveys matter?

SURVEYS matter because these tell you the direction of things, the pulse of the people, how the ground beats and, sometimes, how stupid people are in believing so-called social media influencers without studying methodology, the date the surveys were done, the type of the sampling, how the questions were asked and many more factors. One conducts surveys to uncover answers, evoke discussion, base decisions on objective information, compare results and rely on actionable information to put together strategies whether in business or in politics. Surveys are a snapshot of a point in time. But put together in a time-series graph, one can predict with accuracy how things will shape. Even a simple trajectory could mean victory or defeat.

Unfortunately, more and more people do not understand surveys; most especially when the numbers are not in their favor; or, worse, when they feel there is a muzzled attempt to hit some tribes back because of the timing of release. When not in their favor, they hit the firm or the individual with incredulous framing; you name it, from destroying the reputation of the firm to insinuating things against the owner of the firm. When released right after the so-called national address of the vice president that “Pahayag SONA was made to negate the rise of the vice president.” Clearly, the stretch is too much. Who would know that a vice president will do a national address? That has not been done before. Pahayag SONA was from August 1 to 11 to measure post-SONA on the following variables: “state of the economy and economic prospects; government response to Covid-19; national political issues, SONA; national leaders and institutions; love, concern, and care of leaders (LCS index and decisiveness); media habits online; 2022 electoral predisposition; among others.”