October 2009 Issue

Effectively gauging the opinions of the people of the Solomon Islands—a nation of over 900 islands—is no easy task. It involves a significant amount of planning, well thought-through systems and, most importantly, a team of people dedicated to the job. TOM PERRY investigates the work behind the results of the 2009 Solomon Islands People’s Survey.


Information has begun to return to the Solomons capital, Honiara, from the 2009 People’s Survey, which documents the opinions, both positive and negative, of Solomon Islanders about their country, their government and the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).
The survey involves interviews and focus groups being conducted across the Solomon Islands by a team of over 70 interviewers.
This team has been sitting down with members of the public across seven provinces to ask questions on a range of topics, including business and employment, personal safety and security, the work of government and access to police assistance and medical care.
The findings will be released publicly later this year, with results used to give a picture of the progress the country is making, and to help the Solomon Islands Government and RAMSI set goals and targets for their work.
The survey commenced in mid-August with work  now underway on compiling the information from around 5000 questionnaires.
Over 1000 questionnaires—each of which contains over 150 individual pieces of information—are being processed per week by the survey’s data entry team at the survey’s headquarters in Honiara.
Dr Chris McMurray, from ANU Enterprise, the internationally-respected research firm that  has overseen the Solomon Islands People’s Survey since 2006, said that while the information from the initial questionnaires had not yet been analysed, it was clear that Solomon Islanders were using the People’s Survey as an opportunity to have their voices heard.
“We are seeing some wonderfully thoughtful answers coming through in the results,” said McMurray.
“People are clearly using this as a great opportunity to confidentially articulate their opinions directly to the country’s decision-makers.”
McMurray noted a number of interesting points from the early surveys. She believes young people have been just as passionate about the issues affecting them as older people in the community, and that the global economic crisis—and its impact on Solomon Islands—was a major concern for many people.
“The surveys processed so far have shown a great deal of interest in the global economic crisis and its potential impact on this country,” said McMurray. “It is clearly an issue that is concerning many people.”
“A big positive is also that many younger people seem to be very engaged on a range of issues, which is very promising for the future of this country.”
The process of compiling the survey results is a complex one, but is designed to ensure confidentiality is well-protected prior to the results being released publicly. Information is entered into the results database, with individual questionnaires taking more than 20 minutes to process.
Tania Kwanairara, a business student from Solomon Islands College of Higher Education, who is working as part of the team handling data entry, said that while the work in processing the People’s Survey information was a big challenge, it was a great experience to be a part of.
“Going through the thoughts of hundreds of Solomon Islanders has been a good experience,” said Kwanairara. “I am learning a lot more about the people of my own country.
“And understanding how to manage the information in a project as complex as this will be a big help for me in my career,” she said.
Work to process the results from thousands of surveys will continue over the coming weeks, with the final results expected to be released in early December.