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Media Satisfaction with Elections Canada Services


Appendix A

40th general electon - post-event journalist survey

Elections Canada is seeking feedback from journalists who dealt with Elections Canada during the 40th GE to determine their level of satisfaction with the services provided.

Your participation will greatly assist us in improving our services. This will take less than 10 minutes.

Do you accept?

A) Profile

  1. What type of media do you work for, is it:
    • 01 Print media - daily
    • 02 Print media - weekly
    • 03 Radio
    • 04 Television
    • 05 Internet
    • DO NOT READ
    • 98 Other (Specify: )
    • 99 No answer

  2. Would you say that the media that you work for is...:
    • 01 National
    • 02 Regional
    • 03 Local
    • DO NOT READ
    • 98 Other (Specify: )
    • 99 No answer

  3. Would you say that the media that you work for is a specialty media such as youth, Aboriginal or ethnocultural media?
    • 01 No
    • Please specify:
    • 02 Youth
    • 03 Aboriginal
    • 04 Ethnocultural
    • 98 Other: (_ )
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

  4. Was the recent federal election the first one you covered?
    • 01 Yes
    • 02 No
    • 99 Don't know/No answer
    • 4a. If no, ask: How many federal elections have you covered in your career?

  5. What are the research tools that you use the most in your day-to-day work? (probe if asked: e.g. web searches, your archives, Internet)
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

B) Contacts with Elections Canada / Media Relations

  1. During the recent federal election, did you contact Elections Canada to get information to prepare your story(ies)?
    • 01 Yes
    • 02 No
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

  2. Did you ...
    YES NO DK/NA
    a) Consult the Elections Canada Web site? 01 02 99
    b) Call the Elections Canada 1 800 media line (1 877 877 9515)? 01 02 99


  3. How many times would you say that you contacted Elections Canada during the recent federal election?
    • _____ Record number of times
    • 99 Don't know/No answer
    • 9a. How was your experience with this contact or those contacts? How easy/difficult was it? Did you get a response, in a timely manner?

  4. Did you generally receive a response to your requests within the same day?
    • 01 Yes
    • 02 No
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

  5. During the recent federal election, how many times did Elections Canada initiate a contact with you without any request from your part?
    • ____ Record number
    • 99 Don't know/No answer
    • Throughout this interview, we'd also like to get some ratings on a few measures. The first one is related to the question I just asked:

  6. Using a 5-point scale where 1 means very difficult and 5 means very easy, how was it to get to talk to a media representative from Elections Canada?
    • 01
    • 02
    • 03
    • 04
    • 05
    • 99 No answer

C) Information / Products

  1. In your interactions with Elections Canada, what type of information were you generally looking for? Anything else ?
    YES NO DK/NA
    a) Information about how and where electors can register? 01 02 09
    b) Information about how and where electors can vote? 01 02 09
    c) Information about voter identification requirements 01 02 09
    d) Information about candidates or political parties 01 02 09
    e) Information about rules under the Canada Elections Act 01 02 09
    f) Statistics on election results, voter turnout 01 02 09
    g) Statistics on political/election financing 01 02 09


  2. Did you use any of the information to write your story(ies)?
    • 01 Yes
    • 02 No
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

  3. And how useful would you say the information was to you generally?

    1. Did you receive any products from Elections Canada that assisted you in writing your stories? What were they?
    2. And how about....did you receive those?

      Again, I'd like you to rate each of these items for me in terms of how useful they were.
    3. Please indicate how useful each of the following products from Elections Canada has been to assist you in writing your stories. Use a 5-point scale where 1 means not useful at all and 5 means very useful.

      Not at all useful Not very useful Somewhat useful Very useful DK/NA
      a) Press releases / media advisories 01 02 03 04 99
      b) Audio clips from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada (within press releases) 01 02 03 04 99
      c) Video footage 01 02 03 04 99
      d) Elections Canada's web site 01 02 03 04 99
      e) Backgrounders / Information sheets 01 02 03 04 99
      f) On-line media section 01 02 03 04 99
      g) Media calendar 01 02 03 04 99
      h) Pre-written stories 01 02 03 04 99
      01 02 03 04 99
      01 02 03 04 99
      01 02 03 04 99


  4. Do you automatically receive Elections Canada's "what's new" alerts?
    • 01 Yes
    • 02 No
    • 99 Unsure/Don't know/No answer


  5. a And again, I'd like you to rate these alerts, using a 5-point scale where 1 means not useful at all and 5 means very useful, how useful do you find the "what's new" alert service?
    • ____ CODE
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

  6. Do you think that an RSS feed from Elections Canada would be useful to you?
    • 01 Yes
    • 02 No
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

D) Satisfaction

    1. What did you think of the information you received from Elections Canada during the last federal election? Was it useful to you?
    2. How would you rate it in terms of overall usefulness, if 1 means a low rating and 5 means a high rating?
      • ___ CODE
      • 99 Don't know/No answer
    3. And when it comes to the clarity of the information, how would you rate it on that same scale?
      • ___CODE
      • 99 Don't know/No answer
    4. And how would you rate the completeness of the information?
      • ___CODE
      • 99 Don't know/No answer

  1. Overall, would you say that the information that you obtained assisted you in reporting your story(ies)?
    • 01 Yes
    • No
    • 99 Don't know/No answer

  2. How could Elections Canada improve its products and services to journalists?
    • 99 Don't know/No answer