User talk:172/VTsIOM sandbox

Various facts on VCIOM breakup found on Russian websites. Not sure which of them merit inclusion, but I am writing then down so that I don't lose them.

the new director of VCIOM is Valeriy Fedorov (Валерий Федоров), a 29-year old political scientist with no experience in public opinion polls, formerly a director of Center of political trends(Центра политической конъюнктуры). One site [1] refers to him as a member of presidential administration but this is not confirmed on his CV [2], unless the Center of political trends is related to the administration. He has assembled a new VCIOM stuff, mostly from little-known people.
On founding VCIOM, Levada, in an interview [3] refers to Tatyana Zaslavskaya (Татьяна Заславская) и Boris Grushin (Борис Грушин) who created VCIOM in 1987 and invited Levada there.
VCIOM had conducted over 1000 polls before the breakup [4].
There is conflicting data about response from other Russian sociologists to VCIOM breaking. One source claims they support Levada, another claims they were silent, except for Grushin [5].
Some sources [6] report that every person in old VCIOM left with Levada.
Putin talked about VCIOM management change when at Columbia University in Sept. 2003 (same source). He was supportive of change but said he is not familiar with details.
Levada reportedly claimed that he disrupted at least three attempts to convince Putin that his approval rating is considerably lower than it actually was (same source).

Andris 14:09, Jul 30, 2004 (UTC)

Great work! Thanks! I added each of the facts. Although the article is still unfinished (an intro and section on methodology are still needed), I think that it's now ready to be posted. I'll go ahead and and post it on VTsIOM. 172 12:14, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I think the short description of VTsIOM in late 1980's could be expanded to discuss in greater detail the types of surveys it conducted. Also, in my understanding, Grushin more than anyone else was important in blazing paths in public opinion research in the SU. In some special topics various others participated both in media based polls and other surveys. For example, a family budget survey was conducted for many years by, I believe, Goskomstat. And ethnosociologists such as Arutiunian, Guboglo, and Drobizheva (connected, I believe, with the Institute of Ethnography) carried out many surveys during this era (and even earlier) on ethnic attitudes and language use, most famously in Tatarstan but also Moldova and elsewhere. But only after VTsIOM was established did polling on virtually all topics become mainstream. There were several other "entrepreneurs," however, who also started to do serious survey research in the period both in Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic. They in effect started the "business" of polling, even though they may have used their affiliation with the Institute of Sociology and other bodies to strengthen their bona fides at the time. Many of the early surveys were still rather limited in the quality of their sampling, professionalism of the interviewers and management staff, and analysis. Still, it was Levada as head of VTsIOM who was recognized as the leading force in this area at the time. And this work was endorsed heavily by people like Tatiana Zaslavskaya to demonstrate not only that "opinion exists" in this society that had often been denied its voice (Levada, I believe, even wrote a book by the title "Mnenie Yest'" ("Opinion Exists")) but also that opinion matters.Mack2 20:02, 10 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]