Badania opinii mieszkańców o warunkach życia społeczności miejskich - problemy metodologii i komunikacji społecznej

Abstract

The article aims to present selected problems of the surveys methodology for recognizing the municipal communities opinions. Based on traditions in polish sociology of the study opinion the citizens about live conditions, their expectations and evaluations of municipal authorities author tries to answer the methodological questions: how we should select research attempts, to organize the field research; whether CATI examinations can replace face‑to‑face interviews; why CATI technique are more and more popular; how to balance costs of surveys with the level of errors of measurement? The second part of this paper is introducing reasons of changes in applying the research on the public opinion in Poland as resulting from the evolution of structures and principles of election the self‑government authority. Leaders of cities and communes built new structures and networks for managing the living conditions of residents. Their staff management and institutional procedures are under pressure by departments of the state and the strong interest groups too. The public opinion is undergoing profiling residents to social groups via NGO associations. They are becoming as one of any interest groups which adopting to the role of consultants and representations of the residents. It is limiting the role of the wide research on the public opinion. At present Times local surveys of the residents opinions are losing information and consultative functions (more authentic are the municipal new movements). The surveys are increasingly a form of the ritual communication with the communities and supporting purely formally the status and the decision of units of the citizen authority.