Gallup Pakistan is one of the country’s most esteemed opinion and socio-economic research organizations, boasting an impeccable reputation for integrity. Its work frequently featured in both local and international journals.
Many Pakistanis recognize the significance of democracy for their country, yet they are less satisfied than they would like with government performance. Furthermore, many perceive corruption to be a serious issue within Pakistani society.
Gallup Pakistan Established in 1980
Gallup Pakistan is Pakistan’s oldest and largest research institution, established in 1980 by experts trained at MIT, Stanford University and Wharton School of Business. It’s affiliated to Gallup International Association established in 1947 in Sussex, UK. Every year Gallup Pakistan conducts several high-profile studies for both government bodies as well as international agencies like World Bank, WHO, UNICEF or ILO.
The organisation is renowned for conducting surveys on Pakistan’s general elections, which have been featured in both local and international journals. Furthermore, they use various techniques to investigate socio-political issues.
Gallup Pakistan exudes a youthful yet professional vibe. Employees describe senior officers as polite and always eager to assist their subordinates.
Gallup Pakistan not only conducts research on the political system, but it also collaborates with non-profit organisations that strive to uphold the rule of law. One such example is World Justice Project, which advocates for legal rights around the world.
Gallup Pakistan stands out in Pakistan due to its unique surveying strategy that encompasses not only Muslims but Hindus as well. This makes the company unique in the region and its research widely respected.
Another focus area is the country’s social and cultural heritage. Here, the organisation can offer a unique insight into how people perceive their history and how it shapes their lives today.
Data from census bureaus is invaluable when studying a country’s demographics, as it often reveals patterns not observed by other polling organisations. For instance, we can learn how many children attend school and the average income across different age groups.
Research carried out by Gallup Pakistan during the 1980s has been key in documenting the devastating effects of war on society. For instance, they observed villagers’ daily lives to document this loss of life in Afghanistan during that period.
The company’s management is strict when it comes to how their employees present themselves in public, but fresh graduates who have worked here say the senior officers are incredibly friendly and eager to assist with any issue that may arise.
Gallup Pakistan Behavioural Science Experiments
Gallup Pakistan conducts behavioral science experiments to help its clients better comprehend their customers and citizens. Furthermore, the firm partners with non-profit organizations dedicated to upholding the rule of law both domestically and abroad.
Behavioral science is an empirical discipline that examines human behaviour, particularly decision-making and communication. Unlike social sciences which examine societies as a whole rather than individuals, behavioral scientists use experimental methods to uncover the cognitive processes that shape individual choices.
Recently, behavioral science has gained significant momentum due to its potential to inform policy decisions and alleviate persistent societal issues1-8. As a result, governments, businesses, and non-governmental organizations around the world have launched behavioural science units6, 7, 9-13.
Though behavioural science has made great advances in demonstrating its capacity to influence policy, it still suffers from methodological and theoretical flaws. These issues have caused many major crises of confidence in the field’s empirical methods as well as replication issues for basic findings14-17.
Heterogeneity in treatment effects has long been a topic of discussion within the behavioral sciences, with plenty of research illustrating how people may respond differently to similar stimuli. This has often caused discrepancies in research results and raised numerous questions about the efficacy of behavioral interventions.
One approach to heterogeneity is designing experiments that test the effects of treatments on different groups of participants rather than just one individual. This approach has demonstrated as both feasible and powerful, providing a major step toward developing theories explaining why certain interventions work60-62.
Research like this could be especially valuable for behavioural scientists seeking to inform policy, as it offers fresh insights into the causal mechanisms guiding interventions’ effects. But in order to fully realize its potential, infrastructure investment and expert guidance are needed in order to fully embrace heterogeneity’s potential to transform our understanding of how behavioral interventions function in practice.
We urge governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations to take immediate steps to overcome these challenges by creating infrastructure for running heterogeneous generalizable studies of behavioral interventions. This would include shared laboratories with substantial investment in training research assistants so researchers can conduct experiments efficiently and according to rigorous industry standards.
Gallup Pakistan Media Research
Gallup Pakistan also conducts studies on a range of topics in addition to its flagship surveys. These include television and radio usage, internet usage, media coverage of Pakistan’s biggest festivals and sporting events, consumer habits, technology advancements and innovation.
One of the most intriguing areas to study is media consumption. The industry is highly lucrative, so it’s essential for advertisers to comprehend their target audiences’ media habits in order to maximize their marketing success. That is why Gallup Pakistan conducts numerous consumer surveys across all four provinces in order to provide an extensive view of this sector of media activity.
In the first quarter of 2012, a survey conducted across four provinces with over 1100 respondents from different socioeconomic and age brackets. This sample size was statistically representative and designed to meet three criteria: random selection; balanced male-female representation; and demographic profile representative of typical households in Pakistan. After analysis using various questionnaires designed to capture individual media consumption habits as well as data from a large household panel, results then sorted into relevant categories.
Advertising Expenditure Monitoring
Government advertising in Pakistan has long been one of the primary sources of funding for both print and broadcast media, leading to an undercurrent of political influence within the country’s media market. This presents risks such as regulatory coercion or censorship that could threaten media independence.
Gallup Pakistan has been a pioneer of media research in Pakistan for three decades. Their services range from periodic media reports and customized studies, advertising expenditure tracking, continuous panel-based Television Audience Measurement (TAM), among many local and international clients.
Gallup Pakistan TV Ratings established in 1981, followed by numerous enhanced surveys and media reports throughout the years. Nowadays, they are one of the nation’s largest providers of Total Audience Measurement (TAM), boasting a panel of over 5,000 respondents from all walks of life.
It has a robust network of field offices throughout the country, as well as an experienced and well-trained team of media analysts and research professionals who understand market needs. Its service portfolio also includes social and opinion polling.
Despite these obstacles, the recent political transition and depressed economy have caused the media industry to contract. Many newspapers and TV channels have closed due to government subsidies withheld and declining advertising revenue driving even large and established media groups to reduce operations.
This has caused a drastic decrease in audience share and circulation for many publications, leading to the departure of many journalists.
Another factor contributing to this decline was a change in political parties, leading to an unfriendly ruling party that has shown hostility towards all media. The PTI-led government severely cut government advertising budgets, forcing many of Pakistan’s media outlets to scale back operations and lay off employees.
Though TV channel advertising revenue has decreased recently, it remains higher than print and digital media which have experienced a drop in their advertising revenues over the last few months. The top 15 TV channels collectively earn around PKR 26 billion (USD 216 million) of all television sector ad-spend.
Recommended readings:
- What is Adaptation?
- Social Media – Functions and History
- What is Mass Communication?
- What is Social Media Marketing?
- Types of Media
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