POR Annual Report 2001-2002

Public Opinion Research Resources and Tools

Communication Canada’s advisors are ready to help departments work their way through any public opinion research problem. In addition, there are a number of tools and resources that have been established to help facilitate the public opinion research process within the Government. A brief description of each of these resources is provided below.

Orientation Guide

Public Opinion Research in the Government of Canada: An Orientation Guide is a resource for any Government of Canada employee involved in conducting public opinion research. In essence, this guide explains the process and players involved in conducting public opinion research within the Government of Canada. The guide should make the process of conducting public opinion research clearer.

The guide offers readers a definition of what public opinion research is for the purposes of the contracting process within the Government. Conversely, the guide also discusses what types of research are not considered to be public opinion research.

A number of different organizations are involved in public opinion research within the Government including the client department or agency, Communication Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) and the research firm. Readers of the guide will find an explanation of the roles of each of these organizations in the process.

The guide also includes an outline of a project summary and a description of the advertising and public opinion research (APOR) planning system. The guide also includes a section on best practices, which outlines the practices public servants should follow at each stage of the research process.

Public Opinion Research on the CommNET

CommNET, Communication Canada’s Extranet site for government communicators, contains a section on public opinion research, which all public servants involved in public opinion research should find helpful. The site includes a listing of advisors and the departments and agencies that each advisor works with, as well as a searchable list of more than 2500 Government of Canada public opinion research reports submitted since 1994, which have been deposited in the National Library of Canada and the Library of Parliament. The list is updated regularly. Copies of these reports can be accessed using inter-library loan through departmental or local libraries.

The site also contains several sections for those who are new to the public opinion research process. Users of the site will find an outline of the public opinion research summary that should be completed each time a department wishes to initiate a public opinion research contract.

On-line Access to Projects

There has been an increasing demand among government employees for easier access, preferably on-line, to the custom public opinion research being done by departments and agencies. As a result, Communication Canada is developing a pilot project for a new on-line process. Under this process, departments and agencies would submit details of planned research electronically. Public Service employees would be able to access summary information of these projects on an Extranet site.

Published: August 2002 Updated: 2004-04-01	Top	Important Notices