Belarusian sociological services do not consider the results of opinion polls conducted by the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Research (IISEPR) to be reliable. This was stated to BELTA by Alexei Derbin, Director of the Information and Analytical Centre, and Igor Kotlyarov, Director of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
Belarusian sociological services do not consider the results of opinion polls conducted by the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Research (IISEPR) to be reliable. This was stated to BELTA by Alexei Derbin, Director of the Information and Analytical Centre, and Igor Kotlyarov, Director of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
"In order to conduct sociological research using the methodology currently accepted in science to obtain reliable data, it is primarily necessary to have a base of interviewers – those who will directly be involved in 'field' research and poll citizens," noted Alexei Derbin. "Since this is a costly and large-scale undertaking in itself, it is difficult to coordinate from abroad. To begin with, one needs to find these people, maintain contact with them, then select respondents, ask competent questions, hand over interview forms to interviewers, and determine their routes. Then, it is necessary to control whether the interviewers have actually visited the individuals who were supposed to be interviewed. All of this requires coordination and on-site presence."
The Director of the IAC also drew attention to the fact that, as a rule, information about the work of sociologists in a particular area can be obtained through appeals from vigilant citizens to law enforcement agencies. "They report that someone is going door-to-door asking questions. And not a month goes by without the police calling us to ask if we are conducting any research," he said.
"As for foreign sociological structures, we have no information that anyone is interested in them. And since there are no traces of their activities, nor any information that these structures conduct research in their own name, a big question arises: how reliable are these results. We believe they are unreliable," emphasized Alexei Derbin.
Answering the question of where the results of "opinion polls" from such organizations come from, the Director of the IAC said: "They can be 'drawn up' quickly, but they will have nothing to do with the real situation."
We remind you that the results of the March NISESPI sociological survey were published the day before, according to which the level of trust in the authorities and the President has allegedly significantly decreased in Belarus.
At the same time, according to the data of a national sociological survey conducted in March in all regional centers of the country, district towns and rural settlements, the majority of Belarusian citizens (64.8%) express confidence in the head of state. During the study, a multistage, stratified, random sample was used, representing the adult population of Belarus (aged 18 and over) by gender, age, education, and place of residence.
According to Igor Kotlyarov, Director of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 5 organizations accredited by the Commission for Public Opinion Polls under the NAS, headed by him, are authorized to conduct surveys on socio-political topics: the Information and Analytical Center, the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences, the Youth Laboratory of Sociological Research of the Belarusian Committee of Youth Organizations (BKMO), the Mogilev Institute of Regional Socio-Political Research, and the Center for Socio-Political Research of Belarusian State University.
"We have repeatedly appealed to the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Research (NISESPI) with a request to accredit their institute with this commission. We have received no response for the last six years. Therefore, their conducting sociological research on this topic is a gross violation of the law," the professor emphasized.
At the same time, the sociologist is confident that all NISESPI research does not correspond to reality. "The latest survey states that they interviewed 1.5 thousand people. For the last eight years, our interviewers and respondents have never met with NISESPI employees, but this should have happened at least a couple of times. Therefore, we can conclude that they do not conduct research, and the survey results are generated somewhere in the quiet of offices and for the sake of the day," believes Igor Kotlyarov.
According to him, as a rule, in 99.9% of cases, the results of NISESPI research do not coincide with the results of the Institute of Sociology surveys: "They are tendentious and selected. Even on the most elementary issues, it is clear that they work for a specific client. It is simply impossible to believe them, because such an institute is some kind of phantom."
At the same time, the Director of the Institute of Sociology doubts that NISEPD could have conducted the survey remotely. Theoretically, their interviewers could have called people by phone. "But how to survey 1.5 thousand people from Lithuania? Judging by the questionnaire, each respondent had to spend 40-60 minutes to answer all the questions. Conducting such a survey is unrealistic. A person simply will not answer such questions over the phone. Moreover, it is not an anonymous survey," argues Igor Kotlyarov.
"Conducting surveys via the internet is absurd in general. It is impossible to obtain clear data in this way," he added.
News of Belarus (BELTA)