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Survey Methods Section Presidential Invited Address
Organizer and Chair: Susana Rubin-Bleuer (Statistics Canada)
CLAIRE DURAND, Université de Montréal
Surveys and Society  [PDF]

What influence does society and its evolution have on survey research? What influence does survey research and the results it produces have on society? We rarely have time to think about these topics. What is the impact of recent changes in modes of communication on survey research? What is or will be the impact of population diversity on the categories that we use? Do statistics that show that some social groups -- like Aboriginals and visible minorities -- are disadvantaged compared to other Canadians have an impact on the situation of these groups? Those are not technical questions, but social and sociological ones, but they have much to do with the work of survey statisticians.