Prepared for:
Elections Canada
Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Supplier name:
Advanis Inc.
Contract number: 05005-190331/001/CY
Contract value: $35,030 incl taxes
Award date: July 18, 2019
Delivery date: December 2, 2019
Registration number: POR 036-19
For more information on this report, please contact Elections Canada at rop-por@elections.ca
Ce rapport est aussi disponible en français.
Prepared for Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Supplier name: Advanis Inc.
Contract number: 05005-190331/001/CY
Contract value: $35,030 incl taxes
Award date: July 18, 2019
Delivery date: December 2, 2019
This public opinion research report presents the results of the Campus Administrators survey conducted by Advanis Inc. on behalf of Elections Canada. The research was conducted between October 31 and November 13, 2019, with 43 campus administrators participating.
This publication may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes only. Prior written permission must be obtained from Elections Canada. For more information on this report, please contact rop-por@elections.ca.
Catalogue number:
SE3-107/1-2020E-PDF
International Standard Book Number (ISBN):
978-0-660-34462-1
Related publications (registration number: POR 036-19):
Catalogue number SE3-107/1-2020F-PDF (Final report, French)
ISBN 978-0-660-34463-8
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by Elections Canada, 2019
2. Political Neutrality Certification
3.2. Sample Size, Sampling Procedures, and Dates of Research Fieldwork
3.3. Response Rates and Discussion of the Potential for Non-Response Bias
3.4. Weighting Procedures, the Confidence Interval, and the Margin of Error
3.5. Other Relevant Information about Execution of Fieldwork
3.5.1. Questionnaire Development and Testing
3.6. Research Instrument Used (Survey Questionnaire)
As part of its post-mortems following general elections, Elections Canada seeks to obtain reliable survey data to evaluate electors' opinions, attitudes, and knowledge of the Agency's services along with various aspects of their experience with the electoral process. The Agency also asks campus administrators to share their experiences hosting voting places at post-secondary institutions. The Quantitative Research Study on Special Voting Rules 2019 project is made up of three separate surveys:
This report describes the methodology of the Survey of Campus Administrators.
Elections Canada designed the Survey of Campus Administrators. Campus administrators are individuals who helped set up a voting place at post-secondary institutions across Canada that were participating in Elections Canada's Vote on Campus program. The survey included questions around the following themes:
After survey design and programming were completed, Elections Canada created an email list of all campus administrators who provided their contact information. This list contained 106 email addresses for campus administrators at 99 post-secondary institutions. Elections Canada sent email invitations and reminders to everyone on the list. The survey was in field from October 30 to November 13, 2019. Of the 106 individuals who received the email invitation:
This resulted in a response rate of 42%.
After closing the survey, Advanis was responsible for cleaning and preparing the survey data, which was provided to Elections Canada in SPSS format. No tabulated data were produced, given the number of respondents. Frequencies were provided for this study in Microsoft Excel. Weights were not applied to the data. Any results with an unweighted base of 30 respondents or fewer should not be reported on, due to statistical robustness. Results with more than 30 but fewer than 50 respondents should be interpreted with caution and considered as directional guidelines only. The results of this survey will be used to inform future Elections Canada programs and services as they relate to campus administrators.
Political neutrality certification
I hereby certify as Senior Officer of Advanis that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity and the Directive on the Management of Communications.
Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leaders.
Signed,
Nicolas Toutant
Vice-President, Research and Evaluation
Advanis
No tabulated data was produced given the number of respondents. Frequencies were provided for this study in Microsoft Excel. A clean and labelled dataset was also provided in SPSS format: it contained all survey variables as well as open-ended verbatim responses.
The target population was campus administrators who set up a voting place on the campuses of post-secondary institutions that were hosting a voting place as part of the Vote on Campus program during the 2019 federal general election.
Elections Canada created an email list of campus administrators who provided their email addresses. Elections Canada returning officers contacted campus administrators in 2018 to help organize voting places on campus. Contact information was obtained at this point and was further validated by Elections Canada in 2019. This list contained 106 email addresses for campus administrators at 94 post-secondary institutions. Elections Canada sent email invitations and reminders to all campus administrators on the list. Data were collected for all units of the target population; therefore, no sampling was done. In other words, since the entire population of campus administrators meeting the above criteria were invited to participate in this study, there is no margin of sampling error to be estimated or reported.
The study was a census. The email invitations were sent to 106 campus administrators. Of the 106 individuals (94 unique post-secondary institutions) who received the email invitation:
This resulted in a response rate of 42%. There is the potential for non-response bias, in that response rates can vary by campus type and administrator demographics.
Since the entire population of campus administrators was invited to participate in this study, there is no margin of sampling error to be estimated or reported. Weights were not applied to the data. Any results with an unweighted base of 30 respondents or fewer should not be reported on, due to statistical robustness. Results with more than 30 but fewer than 50 respondents should be interpreted with caution and considered as directional guidelines only.
As part of the analysis it completes after general elections, Elections Canada fields several surveys to electors. The purpose of the Survey of Campus Administrators was to collect campus administrators' opinions, attitudes, and experiences in setting up voting places on campus.
Elections Canada was responsible for the design and translation of the survey instruments. Advanis was responsible for programming the survey instruments. During this process, Advanis also provided feedback on survey design and structure to optimize the experience of electors taking the survey. After survey programming was complete, Elections Canada and Advanis pre-tested the survey extensively. The questionnaire testing included checks to ensure that all questions in the online version matched those in the questionnaire provided to Advanis, and that all skip logic and branching in the survey worked as intended. After the pre-test was completed, necessary revisions to the survey instruments were made and approved by Elections Canada.
The survey included questions around the following themes:
Since many of the potential respondents could answer on a mobile device, the survey was optimized for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Potential respondents were also able to complete the survey using a desktop computer or laptop, as the survey size adjusts to the user's device. Of the survey logins, 97% were from a computer, 3% were from a smartphone, and 0% were from a tablet.
Advanis provided Elections Canada with a list of unique survey links. Elections Canada was then responsible for assigning one link to each campus administrator; the link was included in the email invitation. Each unique survey link could be used only once to complete the survey. If a campus administrator started the survey but was unable to finish, they could log in to the survey again later and finish where they left off using their unique survey link. Here is what the login page looked like:
Text description of this image
The average survey length was 3.8 minutes. The landing page of the survey included Elections Canada's contact information in case campus administrators had questions.
The email invitations were sent out on October 30, 2019. The reminder emails were sent out on November 6, 2019. The survey was open from October 30 to November 13, 2019.
If a campus administrator who received the email invitation answered 'No' to the survey question "Did you help organize a voting place on campus between October 5 and 9 for the recent federal election?" they then saw this survey page:
Text description of this image
Here is the email content provided:
Hello, I was contacted by Elections Canada regarding the Survey of Campus Administrators they are conducting with individuals that helped to set up voting places on campus. I am not the appropriate contact for this survey, however I believe that you are. If this is the case, please visit this site to complete the survey: https://surveys.advanis.ca/campus?r=new. If you have any questions, you can contact Kaitlin MacKenzie from Elections Canada at kaitlin.mackenzie@elections.ca.
This approach was taken because email addresses could not be collected in real time due to privacy requirements. Of the 106 individuals who were invited to complete the survey, 4 saw this survey page; however, no new survey completes were obtained through this process.
Advanis used SPSS statistical software for the detailed data work. All data-cleaning tasks were performed in syntax files, with intermediate data files saved throughout the process. This ensured that the original raw data files were never overwritten and that each time data were produced, all changes were incorporated (unlike manual procedures).
To ensure that data cleaning and tabulation were accurate, Advanis first cleaned and checked the data. Advanis developed syntax that, among other things, handled checking questionnaire skip patterns and checking response ranges.
Syntax was run on pre-test data. This ensured that data coming from the final survey would be accurate. During the fielding period, checking and cleaning continued. This was done regularly to ensure that the data continued to be valid and correct and to identify any issues that might arise as more data were collected.
Landing Page:
Text description of this image
(www.advanis.net)
© 2019 Advanis Privacy Policy (http://www.advanis.ca/privacy_policy2.html)
Q1
Did you help organize a voting place on campus between October 5 and 9 for the recent federal election?
❍ 1 Yes
❍ 2 No
T1 Show if DidNotOrganizeVotingPlace (Q1=2)
Thank you for your time, however we are looking to reach individuals who helped organize a voting place on campus.
If you know the appropriate campus administrator, it would be appreciated if you could email them the information we have drafted in the link below, as we would like to share this survey with them.
Please click here for email content.
Status Code: 501
Q2
Thank you for your help in setting up the voting place. You have played a key role in making voting more accessible to Canadians.
For which post-secondary institution did you help set up the voting place?
❍ 1 Acadia University
❍ 2 Algonquin College
❍ 3 Bow Valley College
❍ 4 British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)
❍ 5 Brock University
❍ 6 Capilano University
❍ 7 Carleton University
❍ 8 Cégep de Sainte-Foy
❍ 9 Cégep de Sherbrooke
❍ 10 Cégep du Vieux-Montréal
❍ 11 Cégep édouard-Montpetit
❍ 12 Cégep Garneau
❍ 13 Cégep Marie-Victorin
❍ 14 Centennial College
❍ 15 Champlain Regional College
❍ 16 Collège Ahuntsic
❍ 17 Collège de Maisonneuve
❍ 18 Collège Lionel-Groulx
❍ 19 Collège Montmorency
❍ 20 Concordia University
❍ 21 Conestoga College
❍ 22 Confederation College
❍ 23 Dalhousie University
❍ 24 Dawson College
❍ 25 Douglas College
❍ 26 école de technologie supérieure
❍ 27 école Polytechnique de Montréal
❍ 28 Fanshawe College
❍ 29 Fleming College
❍ 30 George Brown College
❍ 31 Georgian College
❍ 32 HEC Montréal
❍ 33 Holland College
❍ 34 Humber College
❍ 35 John Abbott College
❍ 36 Kenjgewin Teg Educational Institute
❍ 37 Kwantlen Polytechnic University
❍ 38 La Cité
❍ 39 Lakehead University
❍ 40 Lambton College Sarnia
❍ 41 Langara College
❍ 42 Laurentian University
❍ 43 MacEwan University
❍ 44 McGill University
❍ 45 McMaster University
❍ 46 Memorial University
❍ 47 Mohawk College
❍ 48 Mount Royal University
❍ 49 NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology)
❍ 50 Niagara College
❍ 51 Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT)
❍ 52 Nipissing University
❍ 53 Nunavut Arctic College
❍ 54 Okanagan College
❍ 55 Queen's University
❍ 56 Red River College
❍ 57 Ryerson University
❍ 58 Saint Mary's University
❍ 59 Seneca College
❍ 60 Sheridan College
❍ 61 Simon Fraser University
❍ 62 St. Clair College
❍ 63 St. Francis Xavier University
❍ 64 St. Thomas University
❍ 65 Thompson Rivers University
❍ 66 Trent University
❍ 67 Université de Montréal
❍ 68 Université de Sherbrooke
❍ 69 Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)
❍ 70 Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
❍ 71 Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)
❍ 72 Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)
❍ 73 Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO)
❍ 74 Université Laval
❍ 75 University College of the North
❍ 76 University of Alberta
❍ 77 University of British Columbia
❍ 78 University of Calgary
❍ 79 University of Guelph
❍ 80 University of King's College
❍ 81 University of Lethbridge
❍ 82 University of Manitoba
❍ 83 University of Moncton
❍ 84 University of New Brunswick
❍ 85 University of Ottawa
❍ 86 University of Prince Edward Island
❍ 87 University of Regina
❍ 88 University of Saskatchewan
❍ 89 University of the Fraser Valley
❍ 90 University of Toronto
❍ 91 University of Victoria
❍ 92 University of Waterloo
❍ 93 University of Windsor
❍ 94 University of Winnipeg
❍ 95 Vanier College
❍ 96 Western University
❍ 97 Wilfrid Laurier University
❍ 98 York University
❍ 99 Yukon College
❍ 998 Other (Please specify):
Q3
There are various tasks involved in organizing a voting place on campus. What role(s) did you play to help run the voting place?
Select all that apply
❑ 1 Made sure the space met Elections Canada's requirements as much as possible *
❑ 2 Liaised with the returning officer by phone and/or in person *
❑ 3 Secured lease agreement(s) *
❑ 4 Provided the necessary equipment (chairs, tables, etc.) *
❑ 5 Helped recruit staff *
❑ 6 Promoted voting on campus *
❑ 7 None of the above (Exclusive)
❑ -9 Don't know
Levels marked with * are randomized
Q4
What other role(s) or task(s), if any, did you take on to help run the voting place?
_____________________
❑ -8 Prefer not to answer
❑ -9 None
Q5
Overall, how easy or difficult was it to set up the voting place on campus?
❍ 1 Very easy
❍ 2 Somewhat easy
❍ 3 Somewhat difficult
❍ 4 Very difficult
❑ -9 Don't know
Q6 Show if SomewhatDifficultOrVeryDifficultSetUpVotingPlace (Q5=3 or 4)
What was difficult about setting up the voting place?
Select all that apply
❑ 1 Finding a suitable place that met Elections Canada's requirements *
❑ 2 Securing lease agreement(s) *
❑ 3 Liaising with the returning officer by phone and/or in person *
❑ 4 Providing the necessary equipment (chairs, tables, etc.) *
❑ 5 Recruiting staff *
❑ 6 Promoting voting on campus *
❑ 7 Other (specify): _____________________
❑ -9 Don't know
Levels marked with * are randomized
Q7
Approximately when were you first contacted by someone at Elections Canada about hosting a voting place?
❍ 1 Winter 2018
❍ 2 Spring 2018
❍ 3 Summer 2018
❍ 4 Fall 2018
❍ 5 Winter 2019
❍ 6 Spring 2019
❍ 7 Summer 2019
❍ 8 Other (specify): _____________________
❑ -9 Don't know
Q8 Show if Contacted NOT OtherorDK (Q7<>-9)
In your opinion, did being contacted in <<Q7.text>> give you enough time to properly set up the voting place on campus?
❍ 1 Yes
❍ 2 No
❑ -9 Don't know
Q9
When thinking about your experience setting up the voting place on campus, how satisfied are you with …
1. The frequency of contact that you had with Elections Canada staff? *
2. The politeness of the Elections Canada staff you were in contact with? *
3. The responsiveness of Elections Canada to your needs? *
Levels marked with * are randomized
❍ 1 Very satisfied
❍ 2 Somewhat satisfied
❍ 3 Somewhat dissatisfied
❍ 4 Very dissatisfied
❑ -9 Don't know
Q10
Overall, how satisfied were you with your experience of helping to host a voting place on campus?
❍ 1 Very satisfied
❍ 2 Somewhat satisfied
❍ 3 Somewhat dissatisfied
❍ 4 Very dissatisfied
❑ -9 Don't know
Q11
If given the opportunity, how likely would you be to host a campus voting place in future federal elections?
❍ 1 Very likely
❍ 2 Somewhat likely
❍ 3 Somewhat unlikely
❍ 4 Very unlikely
Q12 Show if SomewhatOrVeryUnlikelyToHostFuture (Q11=3 or 4)
Why would you be unlikely to host a campus voting place in future federal elections?
_____________________
❑ -9 I am not sure
Q13
In general, how interested are you in politics?
❍ 1 Very interested
❍ 2 Somewhat interested
❍ 3 Not very interested
❍ 4 Not at all interested
❑ -9 Don't know
Q14
Did you vote in the 2019 federal general election?
❍ 1 Yes
❍ 2 No
❍ 3 I was not eligible to vote
❍ 5 I prefer not to answer
Q15
In your opinion, how important is it to have a voting place available to students on campus?
❍ 1 Very important
❍ 2 Somewhat important
❍ 3 Not very important
❍ 4 Not important at all
❑ -9 I don't know
END
You have now completed this survey.
Thank you for your participation in this study!
Status Code: -1