The Institute sponsored the first-ever Canadian-initiated public opinion survey of the people of Afghanistan on issues related to quality of life, reconstruction, and Canadian military presence in the country.
Survey Details
The Environics survey was conducted by ACSOR between September 17 and 24, 2007 with a representative sample of 1,578 adult Afghans (18 years and older) across all 34 of the country’s provinces. The surveys were conducted in-person in people’s homes in either Dari or Pashto, the two dominant languages. Female interviewers interviewed women and male interviewers interviewed Afghan men, and the sample was stratified to ensure a 50-50 distribution on gender.
The survey sample consisted of 1,278 interviews conducted across the country, plus an additional 300 interviews to provide over-samples of 270 interviews in Kabul (the country’s capital) and 260 in the province of Kandahar, where the Canadian mission is based. The margins of sampling error for these samples are plus or minus 3.8%, 7.3% and 7.3%, respectively (at the 95% confidence level). The response rate for this survey was 85 percent, a rate almost unheard of today for research conducted in the western world. Further details on the methodology used to conduct this survey are available from Environics.
Partners
The survey was conducted by Environics Research, in collaboration with the Afghan Centre for Survey and Opinion Research (ACSOR) which has a well-established survey research operation for in-person interviewing to a high standard in every province across the country. This project was undertaken in partnership with the CBC, The Globe and Mail, La Presse and the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Munk Centre for International Studies, (both at the University of Toronto).
Related reading
Survey of Canadian Muslims
The Institute’s first project was a national survey to examine the relationship between Canadian Muslims and Canadian society at large. This research was conducted as part of Environics Research FOCUS CANADA, and built upon an earlier study conducted by the US-based Pew Research Center with Muslims and non-Muslims that covered 13 countries (but not Canada).
Canada’s World Survey
The Institute co-sponsored a national survey of Canadians’ engagement and involvement with the world outside our borders, as part of the Canada’s World initiative.
2018 Survey of Jews in Canada
A major survey was conducted in 2018 by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with the University of Toronto and York University. The survey is the first of its kind in Canada to explore the perspectives of Jews in Canada, addressing themes of identity, practice and experience.