If it’s the summer it must be time for Peninsula Ireland to publish research and get unquestioning news coverage. For previous episodes of ‘dodgy research getting press coverage syndrome’ please see here here and here .
For those of you unaware – the way this works is – Peninsula do research on employment related topic, get a headline put it on a press release and papers publish it verbatim. Peninsula get press coverage of their company and everyone thinks that the majority of employees take sick leave, surf too much at work and are otherwise terrible.
Today’s dramatic research finding (no info on their website about it) is regarding staff stealing from employers and Business World and other publications have reproduced the press release. Therefore director Alan Price will appear unchallenged throughout broadcast media without any examination of the methods involved in research, sample size and error margins. He’s just been on the News at One on RTE Radio 1 in a classic example of this. 68% of employees have admitted to stealing from employers ergo two thirds of all employees steal.
Trade Unions and others please take note and use some of your resources to kick this rubbish where it should remain.
Don’t be bothering us with your sample size and representativeness nonsense, just give me the facts!!
What is Peninsula’s interest in making this stuff available? Are they just the guerilla PDs?
That’s ‘fact’s‘ Eoin.
Peninsula’s interest is in spinning them as an employment law organisation in case your employee is stealing, sniffling, swineflu ridden, watching obama win elections and all other press releases they have got coverage from in the last few years.
Who the hell ARE they though??? Off to google them immediately.
Ok I’m back – very unusually they have no list of their principals – you know the photo and biog etc – NONE. Which is unprecedented for a consultancy, non?
Just one picture of a human on the UK site and the Irish division is just that, an ‘IE’ version of the UK one. I’ll have to be watching them – they are on ze list now so they are. And what complete eejits are our media!!??!!
Suzy, why rubbish? I listened to them on RTE1 and Spin and caller’s agreed with their findings. I remember another about sex discrimination in the workplace. Obviously they look for free press (which your giving them). However, I encourage debate and free speech. I see ‘dodgy research’ every day. Travel companies surveying about how much time is spent in the airport etc. I wonder trust CSO or access to Bank Funding anymore but I don’t see you commenting on those? Joanne
hey Joanne – you are writing this from your office in Peninsula – so am sure you listened to them alright! In case anyone is wondering your message came from 193.104.101.20 which comes from no-reverse-dns.peninsula-uk.com
ooops
Hi Suzy, I work there and read your blog? Is that a problem? I don’t work in press or the research department. I don’t make the calls or emails they send out.
They pay your wages Joanne, that’s an important fact to consider for my readers when reading your comment. One of your colleagues tried the same thing last year forgetting that I can see where comments are coming from. I don’t usually publish the IP addresses but I think it is important in this case. I’ve no problem with people disagreeing with my opinions or posts, just that people would be transparent in doing so is all I ask.
I didn’t put my work email as it was my own views. Sorry.
Pick a day, any day. Then pick a paper, any paper. Go through it, and you will find a surprising amount of “news” is regurgitated press releases, often disguised as research. In fact, recent research conducted on just this basis concluded that 47.4% of all surveys are bogus.
Churnalism is nothing new. And newspapers encourage it by misrepresenting their own polls. When was the last time you saw an MRBI or Red C poll accompanied by an explanation of why the results weren’t all that significant because the changes were withing margins of error and confidence levels in the subsamples were unacceptably high? Instead, we get banner headlines trumpeting a 2% “plummet” in support.
Sorry Joanne but your IP address remains the same even if you send the comments from your personal email.
Wait a minute…?!
So Joanne now that you are here tell us all about Peninsula, and the sample sizes of the surveys, margin of error and how participants are recruited? Do you employ social scientists, use data packages for analysis? And are you really disparaging the CSO in their statistics and methodologies?
Hmm, a curious silence MP. Curious.