Survey Research
Our Capabilities
Democracy International offers expertise in research methods and the design, execution, and use of survey research. We have helped political parties, election authorities, NGOs, donors, and others to take advantage of survey research for strategic and tactical planning, constituency identification, message development, voter education, and project evaluation. We also use survey research to advise on the design and evaluation of democracy and governance programs and the conduct of monitoring and evaluation.
Democracy International can provide clients with a full range of survey and opinion research services. We have expertise in a variety of survey techniques and issues, including cluster and stratified sampling, questionnaire design, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and data collection and analysis. Our researchers can design, execute, and analyze studies ranging from multicountry longitudinal studies to small-sample in-depth interviews.
- Detailed strategic and tactical research study design and budget formulation
- Sample design and selection and database management
- Questionnaire writing and testing
- Execution of phone, mail, in-person, and Internet-based quantitative instruments
- Focus group design, moderation, and analysis
- Conduct of in-depth interviews and tele-focus groups
- Statistical analysis including conjoint studies, factor and regression analysis, and data normalization
- Design and preparation of presentation materials and reports
- Analysis of third-party research
- Training on opinion research and quantitative methods
Democracy International’s principals and senior managers are experienced public opinion researchers. Glenn Cowan managed the Washington, DC office of Opinion Dynamic Corporation, a national public opinion research firm. He also invented the path-breaking parallel vote tabulation (PVT) election-monitoring methodology, which draws on principles of statistical sampling to deter or detect fraud in the aggregation (“tabulation”) of election results.
