Congress Opinion Poll Results, here be Pie Charts

Day 2,445, 02:47 Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom by Mr Woldy


Hello all!

A few days ago I released an article on my opinions on a few Congressional debates which are currently ongoing. I have been told by the Speaker, Rob the Bruce, that these discussions will be published ingame for debates to take place in comments, so if you haven’t checked them out yet keep an eye open for Congress publications.

My article included a poll asking people about their opinions on Congress and forum usage. I have spent two days advertising the poll, and by the time of publishing this article I have received just short of 100 responses. The poll asked different questions depending on whether you were a member of the public (in which case ambiguity was allowed) or whether or not you were a Congressmen (who were asked simpler yes/no questions based on the fact that they will be expected to make a firm decision on it shortly). The following pie charts show the results of the opinion poll.

I shall begin with some statistics and answers from the general public.



This may come as no surprise to some, it is a well established fact of eRepublik worldwide that most users don’t use external forums to follow or discuss goings on in the eworld. This isn’t representative of our entire population, but as I say a sample size of almost 100 (approx 60 non-Congressmen) is a good amount, and a quarter of our voting public according to our most recent election results. I therefore believe it is a decent enough size to indicate some general opinion on the issue.



I found this to be one of the most interesting result, as it shows that in addition to almost a fifth of people who said they followed the forums, just over another third said they ‘sort of’ followed the forums. Meaning that in essence, just over half of people who took part in the poll pay some kind of attention to the forums. However, I made an error in asking a somewhat ambiguous question, and on hindsight I should have asked participants whether they follow Congress discussion on the forums, as people may not check the entirety of the forums. Nevertheless, an interesting result. It is also important to note that just shy of half the people polled do not check the forums at all.



Just under 1 third of people who participated in the poll felt discussion should take place on the forums, and over half felt it should take place ingame. 18% said they were unsure. It was pointed out to me that I didn’t provide a choice for people to say ‘both’ or other alternatives, though I expect most of them would have selected unsure or offered their preference if they feel both should be used. (As far as the comments section as the poll goes, 2 people felt that a mixture should be used).

The public were also asked if they felt 'adequately represented'. Only 13 people who answered that question said yes, with most others (50+ people) saying no... or at least a more verbose and flowery equivalent to no.

Congress

The next three pie charts show the results that citizens who are also Congressmen entered. The poll much to my joy was completed by 33 of the 39 current Congressmen.



All but one of the Congressmen who took part in the poll are registered on the forums, but as this poll shows the majority of members do not use the forums as their day to day discussion point. Personally I think it is difficult to extrapolate the reason for this from the available data; if people were reluctant to use forums would they have signed up? Or is it the case that they signed up to tick a box and then didn’t see fit to use them? Alternatively, does it represent a disillusionment with the forums or an active opposition to using them? Is the data simply representative of a Congress that doesn’t have anything to do? (I am sceptical of that seeing as people have posted in the message threads daily and at least three debates are ongoing on the forums) I may conduct a series of interviews to try and answer that question, but the raw data ultimately speaks for itself.



Almost two thirds of Congressmen are in favour of discussing issues ingame, with just over one third saying they wish for it to take place in the forums. This sheds some light on the issue I touched upon after the previous statistic, suggesting that perhaps Congressmen are resisting forum usage. Nevertheless 21 Congressmen voted for it to take place ingame, with 12 voting for the Forums. I don’t know whether the Speaker will hold a formal vote on this (it is a ‘proposal’ and so I would expect it to happen) but if this poll is anything to go by it seems as though a majority of Congressmen are still in favour of exploring how debates can be held ingame publicly.

Parties

The final pie charts were not ones I planned on releasing, however I drew one up for PCP and it was suggested to me that I put one together for all parties so people could compare directly.

Rather than displaying the data as percentages, these pie charts show the data as values, showing how many people in each party voted for ingame or forums. It is important to note several things; firstly this is a collation of both the members and Congressmen (with exception of the ‘other’ group who have no Congressmen) and so the results may be slightly skewed as Congressmen did not have an ‘unsure’ option. Secondly, it is important to note that for all parties except possibly PCP, this is not representative of a parties entire membership, as most parties only had very few people take part in the poll (UKPP, UKRP and WRP only had 9 participants). However, it does offer an idea of where the parties Congressmen stand on the issues as for most parties they were the most influential demographic in the party study. The breakdown of members-Congressmen for each party is underneath the charts.


Red = Ingame, Yellow = Forum, Green = Unsure

PCP had 6 Congressmen and 29 members take part.
TUP had 8 Congressmen and 6 members take part.
UKPP had 6 Congressmen and 3 members take part.
UKRP had 6 Congressmen and 3 members take part.
WRP had 7 Congressmen and 2 members take part.

My hope is that each party will run polls asking such a question to get a better idea of their members thoughts on the subject to help inform the ongoing discussion.

The last chart is one which collates all data (again, remember that Congressmen had no unsure option in their poll) on the question of forums or ingame discussion.



Various comments were made throughout the poll on the state of Congress, I cannot publish them all (too long, and er… FP’s) but here’s a selection:

‘Not a forum person. forum don’t send me notification about new info posted.’

‘[Forums give] Discussion in one place, rather than two Congress groups.’

‘Without meaning to sound too much like a lazy sh*t, I don't really want to make and maintain another account on another website. I already think what we have does the job and it just seems like a whole lot of unnecessary effort.’

‘Forums allow for better discussion and we can retain information.’

‘Personally would like to see both being used, Though tbph I only check the forums daily it's rare for me to post there these days.’

‘I didn’t use forums but now im in congress I will visit daily.’

‘I like using the in game resources more. Also it will prevent a freakout by some people about the "closeted and hidden" government crap. Also it is easier.’


Feel free to debate in the comments, I would like to clarify that all interpretations and opinions are my own, please use and interpret all the data here as you see fit!

One thing is clear, the public seem to prefer ingame communiques, and only 13 participants feel represented by Congress - so something needs changing!

Thanks for Reading.
Mr Woldy.








To apply for the ‘Woldy’s Young Achievers’ Scheme, be below level 25 an😛
Request a welcome ingame (via PM): 15 Q7 Guns + 20 Q5 Foods.
Post on the forum thread: 10 Q7 Guns + 20 Q5 Foods.
Get elected a Congressmen or PP: 10 Q7 Guns + 10 Q5 Foods.



As part of the Royal Writers, every player under level 25 who releases an article with at least a paragraph of decent content, whether it be political, humorous, or informative, will receive 150 GBP. Any writer under level 30 who gets an article into the top 5, will receive 300 GBP. Message me for your prize.


The Royal Fun Fund is a program which aims to encourage fun and games in the eUK by bankrolling prizes for contests, quizzes and other fun stuff. If you have an idea for an entertainment program, message me to apply for prize money funding!