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17.1 With a few high profile exceptions, national referenda are rare in
this country, but they have been used at local levels. People are asked to
vote either for or against an option or a limited number of options.
17.2 In deliberative polling, a representative sample of people is
initially polled on an issue. They then learn more about the topic through
being given information, asking questions and participating in discussions,
and at the end of the process are polled again.
Points to think about:
 | Usage: referenda and ballots will only be suitable for some issues.
You will only get a 'yes/no' answer, so if you are looking for qualitative
comments this is not the right technique. Issues should be those that will
be of significant interest to your users, and the question/s need to be
phrased in a way that allows people to make a clear choice between the
options. If the issue does not lend itself to a 'yes/no' answer, then avoid
this approach.
| Context: deliberative polling recognises that people make different
choices when they have different amounts of information. Any sort of
polling should not be carried out in a vacuum people should have the
opportunity to debate the issues, hear from supporters of all the different
options, and make a considered choice.
| Methods: a variety of different methods can be used postal
ballots and personal voting are the most common at the moment, but
information technology is opening up new possibilities. Electronic systems
to allow groups of people to vote for particular options are already used,
and telephone and Internet voting from the home are often seen on the
television. Increasing opportunities for people to use these methods are
likely to improve participation levels, but there are issues surrounding
confidentiality and prevention of misuse that may be significant as these
areas develop.
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Pros
| Easy to interpret results.
| Increasingly easy for people to participate.
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Cons
| No qualitative information.
| Results can be based on superficial uninformed responses but
there's no way for you to find this out.
| Results can be swayed by the amount and quality of
information provided by supporters of each option, rather than
by the issue itself.
| Often gets low turnouts.
| Deliberative polling techniques can be very expensive.
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Costs: expensive, particularly for deliberative polling.
Use to: get clear mandate (depending on response) for
particular action.
You will only get a yes/no answer, so if you are looking for qualitative comments this is not the right technique.
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