Observation

This was a popular question and the candidates that answered it did very well. They understood the demands of the question and scored good marks. However, some of the candidates scored low marks in part (b) by giving skimpy answers without further explanations. The candidates wrote some of the following points as answers to the question:

(a)        A scientific method of measuring views, opinions, and choice of the people based on prediction of social, political and economic issues facing a state. E.g. popularity of a government or predicting election results.

(b)(i)    Lack of expertise knowledge by officials conducting the polls.
(ii)        Reliable methods which may produce accurate results are expensive.
(iii)       High level of illiteracy and ignorance among the people.
(iv)       Problems of analysing statistical data/poor knowledge of statistical analysis.
(v)        Lack of objectivity among the respondents/interviewees.
(vi)       People get scared of being interviewed.
(vii)      Poor communication network.
(viii)     Lack of objectivity among the pollsters.
(ix)       Poor funding of poll.
(x)        Poor knowledge of instrument design and administration e.g. misleading sampling techniques, incomplete or inaccurate questions and structured interviews formats.
(xi)       Principle of confidentiality in the civil and public service.
(xii)      Falsification of information/data by both sources and data collectors.
(xiii)     Nature of government e.g. military/civilian.