MINI CASE 3.1
All kinds of organizations are interested in the response to their products, services or indeed policies. They will typically select a survey method that provides results of sufficient quality at an acceptable cost.
This is what the Bank of England say about their Inflation Attitude Survey:
Why?
The Bank of England firmly believes that the monetary policy framework established in 1997 will be most effective if it is accompanied by wide public understanding and support, both for the objective of price stability and for the methods used to achieve it.
How?
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) uses a variety of methods to explain to the public its role of setting interest rates to meet the inflation target. These methods include the publication of the minutes of their monthly meetings; the quarterly Inflation Report; speeches and lectures; research papers; appearances before parliamentary committees; interviews with the media; visits throughout the UK and an education programme that includes the Target Two Point Zero competition for schools and colleges.
Since the establishment of the MPC, the Bank has sought to quantify the impact of its efforts to build general public support for price stability: one way to assess this impact has been to use sample surveys of public opinion and awareness.
What?
The quarterly survey of inflation attitudes conducted by NOP on our behalf commenced in February 2001. The nine questions asked in these quarterly surveys seek information on public knowledge, understanding and attitudes towards the MPC process, as well as expectations of interest rates and inflation and also look to measure satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the way the Bank of England is 'doing its job'. Five questions that are asked annually cover perceptions of the relationship between interest rates and inflation and knowledge of who sets rates.
You will find a discussion of the survey methodology and a summary of the results for each of the years since 2001 on the website.
Source: Bank of England, www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/nop/ Reproduced by permission of the Bank of England.