A few days ago a poll was conducted by ABAC, asking “people” who they most preferred as the new Police chief. The sample—most of them or actually the highest number—chose Gen. Jongrak, followed by the current contenders. This was a surprise to many and was reported extensively upon by the media, without comment as they were puzzled themselves about the result.

It’s a disgrace for ABAC to have such a polling team in its payroll. This poll has driven ABAC a notch down in its general academic ranking, and undermines its credibility as a top regional university which it is striving for.

1. Why should ABAC ask this kind of question to the people, presumably the man in the street. What use is the answer? It certainly can’t be acted on by the government. No government can rule by taking into account such polls, especially badly conceived ones.

2. And who was the sample and what logic was used to choose this kind of sample to ask this kind of question? The answer would be of some value if the sample consisted of those knowledgeable in police affairs, its politics and history. Then, any consensus or any divisions reported would be of a representation of opinion of “wise people” or the “players”, which would be useful to decision-makers.

3. Then, in this kind of important issue, you’ve got to ask why the respondent chose the answer he/she did. Not hard at all to tag another question, closed or open.  Why didn’t they ask? The answer we got now is useless without knowing the reason. Incomplete, as if eating half a hamburger.

The reason why another such question was not asked was probably financial, and too much time involved in processing, and time is money.

4. The poll asked a sample of people who I wouldn’t go so far as to say not qualified, but who probably have only a superficial knowledge of this important issue. So what does the public gain from knowing the answer? Nothing—because the methodology was badly conceived. Truly a waste of paper and media space.

Polling in Thailand seems to be big business. I also think it is influenced by politics—not all polls. So you’ve got to be critical when reading polling results, looking at the methodology, etc.