S.P.U.C. survey criticised
PA Wellington . A survey conducted by the Societvfor the Protection of the Unborn Child (S.P.U.C.), which said an estimated three in five New Zealanders were opposed to abortion on request, was not up to professional standards, the Survey Appraisals Committee has said. “The claimed statistical findings, therefore, are subject to considerable doubt,” the committee’s chairman, Mr John J. Deely, of Christchurch, said in a statement. «The committee is jointly sponsored by the Statistical Association and the Market Research Society to undertake evaluations of survey results used in public discussions of community issues. ;. Mr Deely said the committee had been requested by a member of the public' to examine the S.P.U.C. survey, which was released in May. " S.P.U.C. said the telephone survey of 12.527 adults, selected at random, • in November last year found that 56 per cent were against abortion on request, 27 per Cent in favour, and 17 per cent undecided. S.P.U.C. said at the time
that the survey also found that 60 per cent of antiabortionists wanted tighter laws and about one-third said that abortion was an important issue for deciding between Parliamentary candidates. The society's president. Mr Peter Barry-Martin, said the survey results showed a virtual reversal in community opinion since the present abortion laws were passed. Mr Deely said yesterday that scientific defects of the survey included that the sample of persons interviewed was not representative of New Zealand’s adult population, many areas being excluded at the selection stage. The selection of persons for interview was not made in a random manner, he said, leading among other possible biases, to an undue proportion of women and mothers in the sample. Some of the key questions were prefaced by statements which strongly favoured S.P.U.C.'s views and could have influenced the replies. Interviewers also introduced themselves as S.P.U.C. members and this could possibly have biased the replies.
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Press, 15 October 1982, Page 15
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311S.P.U.C. survey criticised Press, 15 October 1982, Page 15
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