“Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country? Yes/No” That was the hopelessly biased question that Alex Salmond wanted to appear on the ballot paper for the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. Fortunately, the Electoral Commission has stopped the SNP leader in his tracks. The elections watchdog said today that while the “language in the proposed question is clear, simple and easy to understand”, “the words ‘Do you agree’ potentially encouraged people to vote ‘yes’ and should be replaced by more neutral wording.”
It was the right decision. As Robert Cialdini, an American psychologist with no stake in the race, told theToday programme:
I think it’s loaded and biased because it sends people down a particular cognitive chute designed to locate agreements rather than disagreements. It’s called a one-sided question or a loaded question… [pollsters] for a long time have warned us against those sorts of questions.
There’s a very simple fix to de-biasing those sorts of questions. Instead of saying how much do you agree with this policy or option the survey takers simply have to say how much do you agree or disagree… That produces an even handed and unbiased approach.
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The commission recommended that the question be altered to “Should Scotland be an independent country? Yes / No”
The Scottish government has wisely backed down without a fight. Minutes after the commission’s advice was published, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “I can confirm that the Scottish Government will accept all of the Electoral Commission’s #indyref recommendations #voteYES“
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