Referenda & democracies

The hallmark of an alert and avid democracy is the efficacy of its poll surveys.Both the pollster and the polled must understand the larger import of a questionnaire that should invariably go beyond the immediate need. This is to ensure linkage and correlation that would be vital for the next sampling later on .The framing of queries has to be diligently designed to sample the on going flow of thought /perceptions without mixing up disturbing or changing the proportion of elements of the medium and  the region within boundaries of reference ,much like  sampling delicately from a flowing water source. In dealing with issues  contained in a socio-political matrix, the pollster has to be an avant-garde researcher who must have the intelligence to constantly upgrade his knowledge and inputs. This can come only with frequent surveys on relatively diverse concerns in and around the target region as also the  possible effect of socio-geographic- economic influences from adjacent target areas. If we had a system of referenda,routine in many compact euro nations, our system and quality of surveys would have by now sufficiently emancipated with the times .Seasonal and sporadic pre -election surveys as we have today,would hardly fit into the much elevated standards that top surveys boast off and repeatedly deliver on accuracy. Transparency in polls is but one  element to check honesty of purpose but we should work as much toward scientifically engineered content that go to make up  complex surveys  that put out simple and understandable conclusions.