Imprecise Questions

Yesterday The Sun ran a research-based headline “1 in 5 Brit Muslim’s sympathy for jihadis”. It quickly came in for a lot of criticism. I don’t want to dwell on the politics, or general journalistic reporting of research. But much of the criticism focussed on specifics of the research. If you want to read about that, you can.

What interested me was the phrasing of the statements they were asked to agree with: “I have a lot of/some sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria”. For a long statement, it’s imprecise. Many picked up that they may go to Syria to fight against jihadis. But for me the real issue is the use of “sympathy”. That could mean they support them. It could mean that they feel sorry for them. And it could mean they see why radicalisation can happen for vulnerable young people. 

I reckon some of the responses covered all of those sentiments – but we’ve no way of knowing in what proportion – or why.

And that’s the problem with a lot of employer research too, engagement surveys being the obvious example. Now, they have a fine line to tread: questions specific enough to be meaningful, whilst keeping a manageable number of questions.

But it’s no coincidence that a lot of my projects start where other research has left off. Without a level of precision, all they can hope to do is to identify where there is a problem. But they often can’t tell you precisely what the problem is, or why.

You’ve got to start somewhere, but if you’re dedicating time and energy to listening to employees, make sure that your questions are precise enough to get you valuable insight. Or build in the time to get deeper into the bigger findings.