METHODOLOGY

Independent Sociology and Information Service "OPINIA" ensures the full range of services required for a sociological survey, starting with the design, use of questionnaire in the field, followed by processing, analysis and interpretation of data to be presented in the final research report.

Depending on the type of project, quantitative and/or qualitative methods are used.

Quantitative methods

Opinion polls:

- Face-to-face interviews at home, work, in the street, in specially arranged rooms (hall-test)

- telephone-based interviews

- panel survey

- Internet-based survey

- Omnibus survey

Desk fact-finding survey and analysis

Statistical surveys (in households, institutions, organizations)

Qualitative methods

Focus-group

In-depth interview

Interview with experts

Case studies

Content and discourse analysis

Mystery shopping

Types of sample

Probabilistic, stratified, multistage sample with a number of 1000-2000 respondents, representative of the adult population of the Republic of Moldova

Probabilistic sample representative at the regional or local level

Sample representative for certain groups of population

Non-probabilistic sample

Quality control

Quality control is carried out at all stages of research.

1. Quality control at the stage of methodology design and sample estimation. Reliable information ensures a correct sample design and the survey representativeness. The strict observance of research methods ensures the high quality of data. To check the quality of research tools designed to collect information, these tools are subjected to a pretest, which is done for the group of people that makes up the universe of research, in conditions similar to those of the real survey, and for a sufficient number of cases.

2. Quality control of the field work, which includes: verification of compliance with the respondent selection method, visual control of completeness of questionnaire, logical analysis of response options.

3. Quality control at the end of data collection in the field. 10-20 percent of the filled-in questionnaires are checked, and repeated visits to the respondent’s place are carried out or information is checked over the telephone.

4. Control of information during data processing. The completeness and consistency of data is checked while processing the data.

Information processing

SPSS software is widely used to process and analyse sociological data obtained from quantitative studies. Based on the information entered, various functional correlations are to obtained, at the Customer’s request. The results are presented in tables or graphs, including databases with variables in SPSS, Excel, and Word format, as defined by the Customer. Quantitative research results are guaranteed with a probability of at least 97% within the limits of sampling error lower than 3%.

Research reports

Opinia provides its Customers with research reports containing a detailed analysis of survey results. PowerPoint presentations are developed at Customer’s request.