Why did we ask those questions? By Paul Whitham LPSNZ, Councillor for Publications
IN FEBRUARY THE PSNZ Council conducted a survey to determine the opinion of members regarding the five-year time limit on national exhibition entries. As with most decisions that the PSNZ Council makes, a number of people were very quick to comment on the Facebook group about the questions asked. While the survey has been completed, we will be using similar surveys in the future to gauge opinions, so I thought it important to provide context around a couple of questions that people took issue with.
Have you entered the national exhibition in the last five years? In research this is referred to as a qualifying question. It provides more information in terms of the responses given to another question. In our survey question one asked whether you were in favour of the time limit. On its own it gives us a simple result. However, when you add the question about actual entry into the national exhibition, you were able to see if those people who had actually entered the salon had a different opinion to those that did not. Ultimately it was the second question, which some members regarded as irrelevant, that decided the overall survey. The results of Question 1 were as follows: In favour of a limit Against a limit No preference either way
Number 212 185 79 469
% 45.2% 39.4% 15.4%
This showed that a majority of members were either in favour or did not care that a time limit was imposed.
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