How Accurate Is The Reader's Digest Politeness Survey?
I was not really very surprised that we rank among the rudest people in the world. As much as we are loath to admit it, standards of politeness have rapidly declined over the past few decades. However to be fair the methodology used in this particular test leaves much to be desired. Read this Bernama report.
Are tests carried out on 60 people in four locations good enough to conclude on the politeness and rudeness of 1.8 million Kuala Lumpur residents?Many KLites and Malaysians may argue it is not fair but to international magazine Reader's Digest, it's good enough.
Reader's Digest Asia's editor Jim Plouffe believes the survey carried out on 27 men and 33 women respondents provide a snapshot or a quick glance of the behaviours in the countries tested but stressed it was not a scientific study.
Similar tests or a total of 2,100 observations were carried out in 34 other countries. During the test, two surveyors would stage scenarios to see if people would open a door, say "thank you" after making a sale and help someone pick up papers dropped in a busy location.
"This is just a snapshot or a quick glance on city dwellers. A scientific study will involve a big number of samplings which is not possible to be carried out by us," he told a press conference here Thursday.
The survey results published in the local newspapers yesterday was not well received by the Malaysian public including Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Najib said the survey's findings were disputable and gave a negative impression of the country. Nonetheless, the Deputy Prime Minister urged Malaysians to address negative perceptions of the country.
Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim also disputed the survey, saying Malaysians are known to be very friendly, accommodating and outgoing in helping others.
Meanwhile, Plouffe said the survey, carried out in Gombak, Damansara Uptown, Bukit Bintang and Pandan Indah areas, is only for KL residents and not Malaysians in general."There is a misunderstanding that this survey is on Malaysia. This is only KL and other big cities," he said. Tourist spots were excluded in the survey as people tend to be nice to tourists and might react differently to their fellow citizens, he said.
Apart from the global test in which Malaysia ranked 33rd among 35 countries, Reader's Digest also provided a score card on how the country performed against eight other Asian countries.The country is ranked second together with Mumbai and Taipei in the "holding door" test but ranked sixth and seventh in the "thank you" and "dropping paper" categories, thus putting it in eighth spot overall.
Are tests carried out on 60 people in four locations good enough to conclude on the politeness and rudeness of 1.8 million Kuala Lumpur residents?Many KLites and Malaysians may argue it is not fair but to international magazine Reader's Digest, it's good enough.
Reader's Digest Asia's editor Jim Plouffe believes the survey carried out on 27 men and 33 women respondents provide a snapshot or a quick glance of the behaviours in the countries tested but stressed it was not a scientific study.
Similar tests or a total of 2,100 observations were carried out in 34 other countries. During the test, two surveyors would stage scenarios to see if people would open a door, say "thank you" after making a sale and help someone pick up papers dropped in a busy location.
"This is just a snapshot or a quick glance on city dwellers. A scientific study will involve a big number of samplings which is not possible to be carried out by us," he told a press conference here Thursday.
The survey results published in the local newspapers yesterday was not well received by the Malaysian public including Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Najib said the survey's findings were disputable and gave a negative impression of the country. Nonetheless, the Deputy Prime Minister urged Malaysians to address negative perceptions of the country.
Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim also disputed the survey, saying Malaysians are known to be very friendly, accommodating and outgoing in helping others.
Meanwhile, Plouffe said the survey, carried out in Gombak, Damansara Uptown, Bukit Bintang and Pandan Indah areas, is only for KL residents and not Malaysians in general."There is a misunderstanding that this survey is on Malaysia. This is only KL and other big cities," he said. Tourist spots were excluded in the survey as people tend to be nice to tourists and might react differently to their fellow citizens, he said.
Apart from the global test in which Malaysia ranked 33rd among 35 countries, Reader's Digest also provided a score card on how the country performed against eight other Asian countries.The country is ranked second together with Mumbai and Taipei in the "holding door" test but ranked sixth and seventh in the "thank you" and "dropping paper" categories, thus putting it in eighth spot overall.
posted by The Malaysian. at 6/22/2006 07:15:00 PM
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