Deliberative Surveys. an Analysis of Their Design, Execution and Results Following the First Experience in Spain.

Abstract

Deliberative surveys emerged in the mid-nineties as a novel tool designed to measure public opinion. The notion behind this type of survey is quite simple. After conducting an initial survey of a representative sample of the study population, respondents are invited to take part in an encounter known as a ¿deliberative forum¿. In this forum, the participants receive balanced information about the issue at hand and engage in a process of citizen deliberation in small, randomly selected groups. Upon conclusion of the forum, participants are again asked to fill out the original survey to determine if exposure to the information and the deliberative process lead to changes in the respondents¿ attitudes and opinions regarding the issue. Following twenty experiences of this kind around the world, a group of researchers from the Institute for Advanced Social Studies of Andalusia (IESA) and the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) conducted the first deliberative survey in Spain in the city of Cordoba. The topic of the survey was ¿Night-time Youth Leisure.¿ The aim of our paper is to present the initial results of this experience, paying special attention to the methodological design, the different problems that arise when conducting the survey, the added value that can be gained from this methodological tool as regards research results and the usefulness of the results obtained in this deliberative survey.