Viewpoint – Manipulator or messenger?
Nick Tanner research agency Parker Tanner
'Market research is becoming more of a manipulator than a messenger.' This was the theme of a recent Debating Group debate sponsored by the MRS (Goldacre vs. Page 2009). At first sight it seems, to us insiders, almost laughably easy to refute. We do our best to make our questions neutral, our analysis thorough and our opinions clearly demarcated from the data. Don't we?
Moreover, the industry has worked hard in recent years to persuade the newspapers to report political opinion polls more responsibly. Methodological details are published,...