MINSK, 3 June (BelTA) – Trusting the polls of non-accredited institutions is similar to being operated by a hospital guard, Director of the Center for Sociological and Political Studies at the Belarusian State University, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor David Rotman said during a discussion dedicated to public opinion polls and sociologists' responsibility to society as part of the Expert Community joint project of BelTA and the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research (BISR) on 3 June.
Among other things, the participants of the Expert Community project discussed how a non-professional can distinguish among the abundance of social polls those whose results cannot be trusted. David Rotman believes that the absence of accreditation with the Commission on Public Opinion Polls at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) should raise a red flag. “Let us assume that a person will be operated not by a professional doctor with a diploma, but by a security guard of a clinic or a hospital. It is the same here. This is why we have accreditation. Studies should be carried out only by professional organizations that meet the necessary requirements,” he said.
The expert expressed regret that sometimes people do not understand what accreditation is for, and therefore unjustifiably take the side of fake sociological structures. David Rotman stressed that the accreditation shows that the specialists have been professionally selected. “There can be no sociological structure if it consists of or is run by people who have never done such things at all, if they have no idea what sociology is and use it only for propaganda purposes,” he stressed.
As for electoral sociology, the expert said that its technology has no big differences. There are some rules, however. “What is electoral sociological study? It is not a single measurement. It is a set that includes three stages: pre-election measurements, studies on election day and post-election studies. These are standard international rules,” he explained. Thus, in order to effectively and correctly conduct a social study on election day, one must take into account the situation in the country. Otherwise, one should not trust the results.
David Rotman also spoke in favor of more media coverage of how sociological research is conducted and how to evaluate its results. His opinion was echoed by his colleagues, head of the information and analysis department at the Public Administration Academy under the aegis of the Belarusian president, Vladimir Litvinovich, and Dean of the Philosophy and Social Sciences Faculty of Belarusian State University, Vadim Gigin. In their opinion, Belarusian sociologists need to saturate the information field with quality, verified information. “Otherwise, if there are no data, any information that arises in this vacuum is immediately actively perceived. Everyone starts using it. Therefore, sociologists must be unambiguously active and present their data, express their position and tell about their work,” said Vladimir Litvinovich.
Vadim Gigin stated that there is the widest pluralism in the media sector, including sociological data, and fake news is also inevitable. “Fake news will be present anyway, but we need active academic scientists, trained and professional. We also need them to closely cooperate with the media,” he said.
