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Social Weather Stations

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	Topics Social Weather Stations Topic Home The institution As an independentIndependent business In business, an independent business as a term of distinction generally refers to privately-owned companies.... institution, the SWS formally registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC on August 8, 1985. Its mission is to regularly do scientific social surveys for the sake of educationEducation Education is the process by which an individual is encouraged and enabled to develop fully his or her innate potential; it m... (so eyes may see social conditions), conscientizationConscientization Conscientization refers to a type of learning which is focused on perceiving and exposing social and political contradiction... (so hearts may feel social problems); and analysis (so minds may understand their solutions). Its vision is to set standards of excellence in the practice of "Statistics For Advocacy" within a democratic context: using a socially-oriented agenda, making practical technical innovations, communicating findings to the general public, and teaching the technology to other institutions. Its basic functions include: social analysis and research, with stress on social indicators and the development of new data sources; design and implementation of social, economic, and political surveys, including public opinion polls; and the dissemination of research findings through publications, seminars, briefings, and other channels. SWS does its own fieldwork and data processingData processing Data processing is any computer process that converts data into information.... , making it a full-service survey research institute. It operates as a self-supporting, non-subsidized, academic institute for survey research on topics of public interest, deriving financial sustainability from subscriptions, commissioned surveys, social survey contracts, as well as from training and consultancy. Its Social Weather Surveys invite public subscriptions thus generating funds from survey users which are pooled together and used to defray the expenses for a continuing series of social surveys. Giving priority and emphasis on credibility, SWS inhibits itself from conducting proprietary or confidential surveys. As such, no research sponsor can suppress the use of data generated by the surveys it has financed. In cases of surveys commissioned on highly sensitive topics, the sponsors may obtain a strictly temporary period of embargoEmbargo In international commerce and politics, an embargo is the prohibition of commerce and trade with a certain country.... of the data and of research findings. Ultimately, all SWS surveys are accessible for research without prior permission from sponsors. SWS materials, including raw data, are also be made available to all interested parties, without discrimination, at reasonable charges reflecting the cost of production. Role in Philippine democracy SWS has played an active role in Philippine democracyDemocracy Democracy is a form of government for a nation state, or for an organization in which the citizens have a vote or voice in ... through the conduct of surveys, particularly the opinion polls, pre-election pollsOpinion poll Opinion polls are surveys of opinion using sampling.... , exit polls, social weather surveys, quality of life indicators, and others. The SWS surveys measure Filipinos' opinions on public issues, including political ones, as a democratic society. Its premise is that there are no morally right or wrong answers to the survey questions. The SWS motto Quot Homines Tot Sententiae,, meaning "As Many Opinions As There Are People," implies that SWS is open-minded to whatever the results of a survey may be. Dr. Mangahas, president of SWS calls the SWS' activities as democratic discourseDiscourse *Discourse* is a term used in semantics as in discourse analysis, but it also refers to a social conception of discourse, ... in the modern world which has particular need for scientific opinion polling during times of crisisCrisis Summary A crisis is a turning point or decisive moment in events.... , including the MarcosFerdinand Marcos Summary Ferdinand Emmanuel Edraln Marcos was the tenth president of the Philippines, serving from 1965 to 1986.... ' dictatorshipDictatorship A dictatorship is a autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by a dictator.... , the military coup attempts like the Oakwood mutinyOakwood mutiny The Oakwood Mutiny was a mutiny that occurred in the Philippines on July 27, 2003.... , Juetenggate, Hello Garci scandalHello Garci scandal The Hello Garci scandal is a political scandal and electoral crisis in the Philippines.... . According to him: "If SWS polling became controversial, we accept it as part of the trade. We are not creating controversies, but simply letting the light of day shine on them, in keeping with the final verse of the SWS Hymn: 'Yan ang aming hangarin, Demokrasya'y pagtibayin. Instrumento ng masa Sa kanilang karaingan SWS ay tinatag Layon nitong magampanan, Na ang bayan ay magising, sa katotohanan." SWS deliberately tracks povertyPoverty Poverty is understood in many senses.... and hungerHunger Hunger is a feeling experienced by animals when the glycogen level of the liver falls below a certain point, usually followe... rather than purchasing power and nutrition, since it regards deprivationPoverty Poverty is understood in many senses.... as more urgent to measure than wealthWealth Wealth from the old English word "weal", which meant "well-being" or "welfare".... and obesityObesity Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and mammals, is increased t... . SWS scientists have regularly participated in the global association of researchers called International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS). A reasonably complete survey on QOL includes governanceGovernance The term *governance* deals with the processes and systems by which an organization or society operates.... among its topics, since "bad governance definitely makes people feel bad." Quality of Life (QOL) is the generic term replacing the original, anti-economics term "social indicators" to encompass well-being in all aspects meaningful to people. QOL is always multidimensional. It is quite normal for chronically bad aspects of QOL to have priority in social science researchResearch Research is often described as an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting, an... , just as illness has normal priority over wellness in medical researchResearch Research is often described as an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting, an... . SWS reports its core indicators, whether favorable to the administration or not, every quarter. On January 6, 2006, the SWS release to the media was "Hunger Hits Record 16.7%"; on October 13, 2003, it said "Hunger At Record Low 5.1%." According to Dr. Mangahas: "The great increase in hunger from 2003 to 2005 cannot be dismissed by the Budget Secretary's claim that Filipinos exaggerate deprivationDeprivation Deprivation may refer to:Poverty... . Assuming, for the sake of argument, a cultural tendency to overstate hunger, then such tendency should have been active in 2003 also, and could not explain the large change from 2003 to 2005." SWS' generating and publicizing alternative statistics is an activity that helps to put its subject matter higher on the agenda of public and private policymakers. SWS' data on regular topics like hungerHunger Hunger* is a feeling experienced by animals when the glycogen level of the liver falls below a certain point, usually followe... , povertyPoverty Poverty is understood in many senses.... and governanceGovernance The term *governance* deals with the processes and systems by which an organization or society operates.... and on special topics such as corruptionPolitical corruption In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse by government officials of their governmental powers for illegitimate, us... , the legal professionProfession A profession is an occupation that requires extensive training and the study and mastery of specialized knowledge, and usual... , domestic violenceDomestic violence Domestic violence occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate or h... , and disadvantagedDisadvantaged "The disadvantaged" are people without power, money, or other means of influence.... groups are consciously meant as "statistics for advocacyAdvocacy Advocacy is an umbrella term for organized activism related to a particular set of issues.... ," and not for mere academic study. SWS issues its reports through the mass mediaMass media Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a ve... so as to reach a wide audience. But it does not do these reports for the mass media, except when a media organization commissions a survey. Dissemination of the Social Weather Reports is not solely dependent on media, but also uses other channels aimed directly at key groups of society, including academics. Discrepancies There were discrepancies noted in the Exit Poll results of 2004 vis-à-vis NAMFREL and Official counts. The committee, however, did not find any evidence suggesting that the Exit Poll results were deliberately skewed toward any candidate. The sample selection and interview instruments (ballots followed by questionnaires) of the Exit Poll were deemed methodologically sound. In addition, an audit of the field operations indicated that the design was faithfully executed, and that encoding errors for candidate choices were minimal and not deliberate. Apparent discrepancies of Exit Poll with Official results were readily explained both by samplingSampling error In statistics, when analyzing collected data, the samples observed differ in such things as means and standard deviations from the... and non-sampling errors. The latter is largely a result of biases arising from the huge percentage of non-responses coming from targeted respondents who were not available from 3 to 6 pm, and the uneven proportion of refusals across household classes (which largely arose in NCR). The committee noted that these non-responses could not be ignored, hence, had appropriate weights been applied to account for these non-responses (whether in the form of re-weighting or some imputation), estimates from the Exit Poll would have been closer to the official results. Membership A membership organization, its members, called Fellows, make up the General Assembly that elects its Board of Directors every year. The Fellows are distinguished social scientists in the field of economics, political science, sociology, statistics, market research, and others. Aside from the seven founding fellows, there are regular fellows comprising the membership. Founding Fellows Dr. Mahar Mangahas (currently the President and CEO) Prof. Felipe B. Miranda Mercedes R. Abad Jose P. de Jesus Ma. Alcestis Abrea-Mangahas Gemino H. Abad Rosa Linda Tidalgo-Miranda Social Weather Surveys The Social Weather Surveys are used for public opinion polls. They provide an independent source of pertinent, accurate, timely and credible data on Philippine economic and social conditions. The surveys fill in gaps in data not covered by existing sources. They are meant to supplement, not duplicate, existing government statistical activities. Special surveys Social Weather Indicators Self-rated poverty and hunger Change in quality of life Expected change in quality of life Expected change in the economy Satisfaction with the President See also Politics of the PhilippinesPolitics of the Philippines Politics of the Philippines takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the Pre... Pulse AsiaFacts About Pulse Asia Pulse Asia, Inc. is a professional polling enterprise based in the Philippines. ... External links