Pollster rapped on knuckles for 'leading' questions for Wings Over Scotland polling

A pollster has been found to have breached rules around leading questions following a complaint about its work for the pro-independence blog, Wings Over Scotland.

Panelbase, who were paid by the website to undertake polling in April 2021 following the launch of the Alba party, were found to have breached the Market Research Standards Board’s rules on eight occassions.

It is understood the questions which were found to breach the rules included some on the Alex Salmond inquiry which had just finished, including the behaviour of senior SNP politicians, civil servants, and the then-Lord Advocate, James Wolffe KC.

Seven questions were found to not include a “don’t know” or “prefer not to say” option, with another overstating the support for the Alba Party.

The polling questions included questions around Alba's popularity prior to the Scottish Parliamentary election in 2021.

These questions included asking whether it was unacceptable nobody had resigned over the botched probe into harassment complaints made against Alex Salmond and questions surrounding the record of Mr Wolffe as Lord Advocate.

These, the MRSB said, meant those answering questions as part of the poll were potentially “led towards a particular point of view”.

In a statement published on the Market Research Society website, it states: “Having conducted its investigation, MRSB found that Panelbase did not take reasonable action, when undertaking data collection, to ensure that participants were not led toward a particular point of view, in breach of rule 28 d) of the MRS Code of Conduct.

"In addition, MRSB found that Panelbase did not take reasonable action, when undertaking data collection, to ensure that participants were able to provide information in a way that reflects the view they want to express, including don’t know/prefer not to say, in breach of rule 28 c) of the MRS Code of Conduct.”

Rules 28 c) and d) state members must take reasonable action when undertaking data collection to ensure, participants are able to provide information in a way that reflects the view they want to express, including don’t know/prefer not to say, and that participants are not led toward a particular point of view.

This is the first time complaints about Panelbase had been received by the MRS.

Panelbase was contacted for comment.

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