|
POLLING
UNIT (Social Indicator)
Social Indicator (SI)
is the polling unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and operates
under the Board of Directors of CPA. SI was established in 1999 with the
assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded
Governance and Institutional Strengthening Project (GISP) in Sri Lanka
which is implemented by the Human Rights Research and Education Centre of
the University of Ottawa (HRREC). Since 2003, USAID through AED provided
continuous financial assistance on surveys while building SI’s
technical
capacity.
Mission:
"SI
is envisioned to become the Pollster to the local and international NGO
community in Sri Lanka by conducting opinion polls on a wide range of
socio-economic and political issues and seeks to be the Social Indicator of
Sri Lanka thereby providing a channel through which public opinion,
especially that of marginalised groups, can
inform the public policy debate."
From its inception,
the focus of SI has been to communicate public perceptions on
socio-economic and political issues rather than the preferences of
political parties or personalities. As an integral part of CPA, SI's in-house projects, identified and implemented in
collaboration with other units of CPA, strengthen CPA's research and
advocacy. Furthermore SI's expertise is made
available to other organisations through the
following services:
- Design and implementation
of surveys on socio-economic and political issues
- Research and analysis of
data
- Development of new and
accurate data sources
- Develop need based
software to increase the accuracy of projects
- Dissemination of research
findings through publications, seminars, briefings and other channels
Professional
Affiliations:
To date, SI
is affiliated to a number of international organisations
which have contributed towards strengthening SI's
capacity and credibility as an independent survey organisation in Sri
Lanka.
- Social Weather Stations
(SWS), Philippines, is a renowned social research institution
established in 1985 and operates as a self-supporting, non-subsidised, academic institute for survey research
on topics that arouse public interest. The core staff members of SI
received an initial training from SWS in 1999 and it continues to
support SI in its initiatives. www.sws.org.ph
- World Association for
Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), a professional body of more than 400
individuals from academic and business professions in over 70
countries who share information in the field of public opinion
research through seminars, publications, and personal contact. Founded
in 1947 WAPOR's main objective is to advance
the use of science in the field of opinion research while prescribing
ethical principles and practices for the guidance of its members and a
framework of professional standards for researchers. Senior members of
SI are affiliated to WAPOR. www.unl.edu/WAPOR
- Centre for Studies of
Developing Societies (CSDS)-Delhi
The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies was established in
1963 to create capacity for theoretical and empirical research in
social and political processes and to understand their implications
for human choices. At present the State of Democracy in South Asia
(SDSA) is spearheaded by CSDS. www.csdsdelhi.org
- Public Affairs Centre
(PAC), Bangalore, India an accredited non-governmental organisation
involved in the process of empowering and educating the public to
ensure good governance through the innovative concept of report card
surveys. www.pacindia.org
- Transparency
International (TI), a global coalition of individuals and organisations united in their determination to
confront corruption worldwide. Social Indicator has been working with
TI since 2001, by providing survey facilities to assess their endeavours. www.transparency.org
Human
Resources:
SI comprises of a group of qualified young professionals who use their expertise
and valuable work experience in the fields of Statistics, Sociology,
Political Science and Information Technology to design and implement
surveys. There are 15 full-time members of staff at SI and a further 90
Field Researchers scattered around the country.
SI’s
Staff Involvement and Achievements:
SI’s members of staff have been provided with continuous
state of the art survey research techniques locally and internationally. SI
is a regular participant of the WAPOR Annual General and Regional Conferences
since 2000. Further, staff of SI Ms. Azra Abdul Cader, a researcher, was awarded the Elizabeth H.
Nelson Prize for the Best Paper from an Emerging Democracy at the 54th
Annual Conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research
(WAPOR) held in Rome, Italy in September 2001 for her research paper titled
'A Public Perception Study on Garbage and
Related Issues in Sri Lanka'
Mr Pradeep
Peiris, Head of SI, contributed to the South Asian Regional Corruption
Survey as a Steering Committee member.
The Global Democratic
Barometers, for the first time initiated the South Asian Democratic
Barometer in July 2004. Mr. Peiris serves as a country coordinator of this
survey. Further, he represented South Asia in the Democratic Barometer
Planning Session, held in Bangkok in October 2004.
SI provided training
on Survey Research techniques to a team from Himal
Association, Nepal.
Mr Peiris, from SI, was one of
the core resource personnel for the workshop on "Demistifying
Social Research" organized by ACS Hameed
Foundation.
Ms. Reshma Harjani: Has an
academic background in mathematics (University of Reading, United Kingdom).
She leads the SI research team. In September 2004, she represented Sri
Lanka in a workshop on "Globalization and Regionalism" held in Gummersbach, Germany, organized by International
Academy for Leadership of Friedrich Naumann Stiftung (FNSt).
Mr. Joseph Thavaraja, Research Executive: A Gold Medal winner in
Colombo University’s Dip. in Journalism Programme.
Has a working Journalistic background, and joined SI in 2001. In August
2002, he represented SI in a Human Rights Orientation Programme
conducted by Kathmandu based South Asia Forum for
Human Rights (SAFHR) on a scholarship
award by the organizers themselves. Thereafter, he participated in a
pioneering residential workshop on "Management & Legal Aspects of
NGOs" conducted by Rome based International Development Law Institute (IDLI) held in Colombo. More recently, he
was invited to the Fourth Annual Regional Meeting (ARM 2005) of Oneworld International Foundation held in New Delhi by OneWorld South Asia (OWSA-New Delhi). Further to be
involved in various aspects of regular SI surveys, he also oversaw research
design of the Shell LiveWire Business Opportunity
Project in 2002 (a corporate survey) and the Voter Aspirations and
Political Participation Study (a pre-elections survey) of April 2004. http://www.ejoseph.org
Mr. S.M.T.Kumara Siriwardana: An
Attorney-at-Law and a Research Executive at SI, represented SI at the
International Labour Organisation regional
meeting on "Demand Side Trafficking of Child Labour",
held in July 2004, in Bangkok, Thailand. Among his surveys at SI are the
"Report Card Surveys", Gender Based Violence, and the
"Provider Survey with the Police Sector".
Over the years SI has
acquired a strong field network, which spans all the districts, and is
composed of over ninety individuals who undergo an intensive training for
each project.
Technology:
SI employs state of the art technology and statistical packages that enable
it to successfully operate and maintain databases. The Statistical Package
for Social Science (SPSS), a database package, assists in the analysis,
reporting and modelling of data, thereby enabling
high-value data preparation and accurate decision-making.
Quality
Control:
SI adheres to the ethical guidelines and practices established by WAPOR.
The quality of the data collection is further enhanced through accompanied
visits in the field and by subjecting 20% of the data collected through a
rigorous process of rechecking.
For more
information please contact Mr. Pradeep Peiris,
the Unit Head (pradeep@cpalanka.org).
SI possesses a rich database on socio-economic and political issues through
the surveys conducted over the past five years. SI appreciates and
encourages interested individuals and organizations to use this data for
their decision making process. The data is available at no cost from the SI
information department.
|
Documents released by Social
Indicator
|
Research Studies conducted
by Social Indicator - 1999 to present
|
A Pre-Election
Opinion Poll on the 2005 Presidential Election by Social Indicator is
available for download in PDF format:
English (1.35 mb) / Sinhala (1.24
mb)
|
|
 Peace Confidence Index (PCI)
The Peace Confidence Index (PCI) a study gauging the
level of public confidence in peace and the peace process
in Sri Lanka - by Social Indicator. These documents are
in Adobe PDF format.
Wave
28 Top-Line Results (560 KB)
Wave
27 Top-Line Results (687 KB)
Wave
26 Top-Line Results (783 KB)
Wave
25 Top-Line Results (742 KB)
Wave
24 Top-Line Results(1.40mb)
Wave
23 Top-Line Results (1.38
mb)
Wave 22 Top-Line
Results (1.34
mb)
Wave 21 Top-Line Results (1.28 mb)
Wave 20 Top-Line
Results (477
kb)
Wave 19 Top-Line
Results (616
kb)
Wave 18 Top-Line
Results (1.1
mb)
Wave 17 Top-Line
Results (1 mb)
Wave 16 Top-Line
Results (1.3
mb)
Wave 15 Top-Line
Results (1.3
mb)
Wave 14 Top-Line Results (919 kb)
Wave 13 Top-Line Results (856 kb)
Wave 12 Top-Line
Results (943
kb)
Wave 11 Top-Line Results (796 kb)
Wave 10 Top-Line Results
(498 kb)
Wave 9 Top-Line Results in English
(363 kb), Sinhala
(474 kb) and Tamil
(358 kb)
Wave 8 (July
2002) Executive
Summary (137 kb)
Wave
7 (May 2002) Executive Summary
(284 kb)
Wave 6 (March
2002) Executive
Summary (314 kb)
Wave 5 (January
2002) Section 1,2,3,4 & 5
Wave
4 (November
2001) Section 1, 2, 3 & 4
|
|
 Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Survey
(KAPS)
The Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Survey (KAPS) provides a deeper
and richer understanding of the peace process in Sri Lanka, thereby
building the capacity of both the Government and Civil Society organisations and institutions to understand and
better meet the interests, needs and concerns of the public with regard to
the current peace process.
Download the KAPS Survey 2004 as Adobe PDF documents
- Executive
Summary (194 kb) and KAPS 2004 Final Report
(799 kb)
Download the KAPS Survey 2003 as Adobe PDF documents
- Chapter 1 (1.7 mb), Chapter
2 (1.1 mb), Chapter 3 (2.6 mb), Chapter
4 (1.2 mb) and Chapter 5 (2.6 mb)
|
|
 Peace Confidence Index (PCI) - Jaffna
After nearly two
decades of strife and in the context of the on going truce between the
Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE, the people of Jaffna
have been placed in the spotlight, receiving more national and
international attention than before. On the eve of rebuilding Jaffna, Social Indicator (SI), the Polling Unit of
CPA, initiated a series of surveys to ascertain the opinion of the people
of Jaffna. The reports can be accessed as Adobe
PDF files
Peace Confidence
Index (PCI) - Jaffna August 2003 Report
(410 kb), October
2003 Report (436 kb) December 2003 Report
(376 kb),and February
2004 Report (425 kb)
December 2002 Report
(445 kb)
October 2002 Report in English (121 kb)
and Sinhala
(337 kb)
July 2002 Report
(99 kb)
|
|
Report Card Survey
 Social Indicator conduted a survey on public service delivery in their
report card on four essential services (health, education, public
utilities and transport) in the city of Colombo. These documents are in
Adobe PDF format and are available in all 3 languages.
Report Card Survey
- English, Sinhala and Tamil
|
|
Opinion Poll on the General Elections of
2nd April 2004
Opinion Poll on the General Elections of 2nd April 2004 - Pre-Election
Poll Wave 1 (646 kb), Wave 2 (426 kb) and Wave 3 (450 kb)
|
|
 CORRUPTION IN SRI LANKA
In order to strengthen and empower the civic society
curb corruption, Transparency International commissioned a survey within
the South Asian region. Social Indicator (SI) was commissioned to conduct
the study in Sri Lanka along with the other countries of South Asia -
India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
This document is available in Adobe PDF format.
Executive Summary English
(316 kb), Sinhala
(412 kb)
|
|
Survey on Election
Issues(General Election - October 2000)
|
|
