Polarisation questionnaire/survey (‘zero-sum mindset’

The following selection of assessment tools provides a range of different axes and perspectives: some of the tools facilitate the detection of polarisation and tensions within the municipality, others help evaluate the level of participation or enable the identification of potential ‘bridge builders’.

1. Polarisation questionnaire/survey (‘zero-sum mindset’)

According to ‘zero-sum’ thinking, life is a zero-sum game, and one can only win if the other loses. Such a mindset is one of the root causes of polarisation and social tensions. Therefore, a zero-sum mindset polarisation questionnaire is a useful audit tool to generate empirical data about the manifestation of polarisation in a local community. The survey in question can provide municipalities with genuine insights into the spread of polarisation as well as risk and resilience factors. To do so, the questionnaire uses the concept of a zero-sum mindset, which measures the degree to which an individual views intergroup and social relationships as fixed and antagonistic, excluding the possibility of cooperation and dialogue. The survey aims to assess the presence of zero-sum mindsets along a spectrum, which has been shown to predict key psychological indicators of intergroup hostility.

Operationalisation

The questions have to be adapted and edited to fit the city’s local context. It is possible to add territorial markers to the survey, gang names, or other polarising identifiers the municipality perceives to be relevant in the local context.

One important aspect to take into account is how the questionnaire will be distributed in order to access as many people as possible and hence gather representative data. This can be done through an online questionnaire, a paper and pen one, or a mix of both. Another important point is to allow people to respond in a safe place anonymously and guarantee their data will not be published or shared. If the responses are collected orally, identifying and demographic data must be recorded and stored separately.

In order for such surveys to produce valid data, their execution should be led or supported by an experienced expert partner. Responses may challenge as well as confirm perceptions. Criteria for validity entail that the data collection be based on a representative sample of the population and the survey does not reflect or comprise bias of any kind.

Concrete examples

Respondents should feel safe to answer as honestly as possible and be assured that there are no right or wrong answers. Also, they must be able to take as much time as they need. The respondents will indicate their level of approval or rejection of questions/statements such as: “The success of one person is usually the failure of another person.” “Life is such that when one person gains, another person has to lose.” “The local government wants what is best for me and my community.” Besides these statements, to which the respondents’ choices cover a spectrum from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’, the survey can also entail questions where the respondents need, for example, to name the group or community they most or least identify with.

Required resources

To formulate relevant questions and then analyse the answers, it is crucial to have both access and the capacity to analyse existing anonymised demographic data. Furthermore, the local authority must make sure to collect data from participants that represent the diversity of the local population. Incentivising engagement with the questionnaire, under the form of cultural vouchers, coupons or by offering the opportunity to visit important cultural or historical places in the city, could be one option to attract those who would be unlikely to respond without an incentive. The city should avoid collecting skewed data by only including data from participants who are socially agreeable and therefore probably not involved in polarisation. To collect valid data, it

is equally important to be able and prepared to respond promptly and directly to participants (for example if they experience discomfort). In order to guarantee that the city can build on the findings, public engagement must be sustained.

Partnerships

To effectively elaborate and implement the questionnaire, close collaboration with the following actors is necessary: government offices that can provide access to the required statistics and data; a local university or research centre to design the questionnaire, carry out the ethical review, help analyse the collected data and present the results in layman’s terms; diverse local communities and groups across the spectrum of polarisation to enable sustainable engagement of respondents; and local and national organisations that can co-sponsor/collaborate in activities encouraging public engagement after the questionnaire’s findings have been analysed.