A Post Poll Study by Lokniti, CSDS

Methodology

Bihar Assembly Election 2010 post poll survey was conducted by Centre for the study of developing societies, Delhi in randomly selected eighty one assembly constituencies out of the total of two hundred forty three assembly constituencies in the state. A total of 324 locations were randomly selected (four locations each in eighty one assembly constituencies). A total of 9072 randomly selected names from the updated electoral rolls were approached. A total of 4959 interviews were successfully completed. The sample comprised of 45 percent women, 19 percent Dalits, 16 percent Muslims and 88 percent rural which quite resembles the population characteristics of Bihar. The interview was conducted face to face at the place of residence of the respondent using a standard-structured questionnaire in the language spoken and understood by the respondent. The training workshop was held in Patna on 22nd and 23rd October, 2010 where more than one hundred field investigators were trained. The fieldwork for the study was conducted between October 24th and November 22nd, 2010.

The survey was designed and analysed by a team of researchers at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. Sanjay Kumar of the CSDS directed the survey. The fieldwork was coordinated by Rakesh Ranjan (Lokniti state coordinator of Bihar). The team that designed coordinated and analyzed the survey at CSDS comprised of Amrish Pandey, Banasmita Bora, Dhananjai Kumar Singh, Divya Vaid, Himanshu Bhattacharya, K.A.Q.A Hilal, Kanchan Malhotra, Kunal Singh, Rahul Verma, Sanjeer Alam, Shreyas Sardesai, Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav.