"Canadians often have negative misperceptions of Prince George," according to page 37 of the Workforce Intelligence Study, a report by Ontario-based R.A. Malatest and Associates for Initiatives Prince George.
"An alarming proportion of respondents indicate that they see Prince George as being a small and isolated community, unfriendly, and unsafe to live in (high crime rate)," the report goes on to state. "The most important issue to note is that only 14% of Canadians feel that Prince George is safe to live in, versus 58% who believe that it is unsafe and high in crime."
That's quite the dramatic finding, based on a telephone survey of just 510 people from across the country. Questions about sample size aside, the proof that this startling conclusion is all hat and no cattle can be found on the very next page of the same report.
For starters, respondents were given nine statements about Prince George and asked if they "disagreed or strongly disagreed" were "neutral" or "agreed or strongly agreed." The safety question was "I think that Prince George may be safer and lower in crime than where I currently live."
The results of that question were that 58 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed, 28 per cent were neutral and 14 per cent agreed. The small print reveals that just 328 people answered the question, which would suggest that 182 people or nearly 36 per cent of the sample size gave no response, probably because they had no idea of Prince George's crime rate and how it would compare to their community's crime rate.
It's a ridiculous question because it asks people to not only know the crime rate of another community but to also know what the crime rate is in their own community.
Even the wording of the question is faulty.
Psychological research shows most people feel safe in familiar environments and less safe in unfamiliar places. In other words, longtime rural residents believe they're safer in small towns than big cities while longtime urban residents believe they're safer on their crowded streets than in the hinterlands.
Furthermore, people who live in disreputable areas always say the reputation never matches the hype. East Vancouver residents see their streets as much safer than how White Rock residents perceive them to be. Residents of the VLA are more comfortable walking in their neighbourhood at night than residents of Upper College Heights would be walking the very same streets.
Even if the question hadn't been so off-base, the conclusion reached by the pollsters is nonsense. They state that 58% of the respondents believe that Prince George is unsafe and high in crime but that's not what the results state at all. The responses state more about where the respondents live than about their perception of Prince George. In other words, 58 per cent of the respondents feel that their community is safer and lower in crime than Prince George. That doesn't mean they think Prince George is unsafe and high in crime, only that it's less safe and has more crime than where they live.
There's lots more wrong with this $45,000 report, which IPG paid for through a provincial grant. Here's three:
- 10 of the 510 respondents in the survey were from Fort St. John, making up nearly 2 per cent of the survey. Fort St. John would need to have a population of 627,000 people to justify having so many of its residents included in the survey. For a national survey with that sample size, 10 people shouldn't have been asked in all of Northern B.C., never mind Fort St. John alone.
- 69 of the respondents were from Vancouver, making up 13.5 per cent of the survey sample. If the pollsters actually meant residents from the City of Vancouver, they only make up 1.8 per cent of the Canadian population. Even if they meant Greater Vancouver, they still only make up 6.7 per cent of Canadians.
- If Canadians are so aware of Prince George's crime rate from the Maclean's rankings, why does page 40 of the study say that magazines are at two per cent when asked about which media has the greatest impact on the perceptions of Canadians towards Prince George?
Looking for a Saturday laugh at a report you paid for with your tax dollars?
Read it for yourself at http://pgc.cc/1i9MZxm.
