Bah.
I work at Stats, but not in the survey divisions. However, they do have a program here where we all must go out and do one survey, just to get a feel for it. So that we gain an appreciation of what other jobs there are in the agency.
The one I went on was on crime in Belleville. We asked the respondants if they knew of any recent crime that took place in their neighborhood, if they themselves had been the victim of a crime, if they believed that crime had gone up or down in their neighborhood and if they believed that crime had gone up or down in the city as a whole. Our findings were pretty much unanimous. VERY few people had been victims of crime (or at least crimes more than the stealing of extension cables), VERY few people knew of any major crimes in their neighborhood, MOST people said that crime was down in their neighborhood, and MOST people said that crime was up in the city in general. Rather confusing results since we polled people from all over the community. How could people believe in ALL areas of the city that crime was down in their neighborhood, but believe it was up in general?
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It's hard to lose a government job, but telling a respondants response to a question is a surefire way to get kicked out of Stats, but I think I'm okay with this one. One of the respondants I interviewed had a wicked sense of humour. I asked him if he knew of any burglaries and he said no. Assaults? No. Vandalism? No. Prostitution? "No need. The wife doesn't charge the neighbors." A nerf ball came flying out of the kitchen and hit him in the head.
