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The organization that represents pollsters of public opinion and market researchers in Canada dissolves, leaving the Canadian survey industry without an independent oversight body.
In a brief email to members sent Tuesday morning, Amy Charles, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association for Research and Market Intelligence announced that the MRIA would cease its daily activities and that the organization would reduce its operations by the end of August.
"The current financial situation of the organization leaves no other alternative possible," says the statement. "With the constant erosion of members' income and following the recent annual conference that left us a significant deficit, we are obliged to undertake this action. "
Only members having obtained the" seal of approval "from the MRIA were alerted last week. The pollsters contacted by CBC News have expressed surprise about the move.
"Yes, I was totally surprised," said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, in an email. "I n & # 39; had no opinion that they were facing problems. "
" Total shock, "said Anastasia Arabia of Trend Research, who was president of the ARIM from 2013 to 2014." J & rsquo; Received so many e-mails and phone calls from
Don Mil Ls, CEO of Corporate Research Associates, said the news "took everyone completely unprepared. It was frankly shock, frankly."
Mills called the decision to dissolve the company. 39; ARIM "disappointing", citing the work that the organization had done in trying to establish standards and certify market researchers. He said that he was baffled by the fact that the board of directors felt compelled to make this move.
"How could he get to this point without anyone in the industry knowing that the MRIA was in trouble?"
MRIA was not something we would have considered, "said Arabia." I am confident that the council made the best decision possible, but it does not matter. There was no awareness and I do not know why, which represents a huge loss for the industry. "
The ARIM not without its critics
The ARIM was created in 2004 following the merger of three industry organizations, but some industry people criticized it for failing to educate its members to adhere to a set of standards.
The Canadian Association for public opinion research was formed to address these gaps in transparency and reporting standards.This eventually led to the merger of the two organizations in 2016, after MRIA put its standards in accordance with the standard
Janet Brown, an independent pollster mandated by CBC News to conduct a survey, raised two issues. on the political views of Albertans earlier this year.
"If you were a pollster who did not care about standards, you did not join MRIA," she said. "If you were a pollster who cared, you did not join because the MRIA was not enforcing its standards."
A former member of the badociation, Brown said that she left a dozen years ago after the failure of MRIA. sanctioning a member organization which had been shown to have published falsified data
The abrupt way in which MRIA managed its announcement was "another example of the lack of importance that she granted the health of the industry, "said Brown
.
But most of the industry people contacted by CBC News lament the end of MRIA.
"The ARIM will be missed by those in the marketing research industry who have been represented collectively by their badociation in order to provide benefits to their members, including educational services to those who build their careers and defend the industry to governments and regulators in the sector, "said Christopher Adams, a professor at the University of Manitoba. on a report from the MRIA on polling performance in the 2017 Calgary municipal elections, in an email.
"I hope this emptiness will not extend at least."
When the MRIA dissolves, Canada will be deprived of a national oversight body for the polls industry – making it an aberrant case. There are a number of international organizations, although the United States and Great Britain, for example, have their own national badociations. Arabia wonders if some of the sister organizations of the MRIA in these countries could open a Canadian chapter.
A new organization could be in progress. Mills says that a number of key members of the industry have already talked about creating a new organization.
"We have to badure people that something will be there, that they will be able to maintain their certification," Mills said, citing the Canadian Association of Market Research Organizations – one of the three organizations that merged to form the MRIA – as a model that could be resurrected.
Mills said that he and other industry stakeholders were talking about the importance of – Standards.
"There is an agreement, there must be consequences for people who do not meet the standards," he said. "I am encouraged by the quick response we got to the question
" We know we have to fill the void. "
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