Surveys for Quebecers

 

Surveys are used to study public opinion and behavior on any subject from politics to people’s shopping habits. In Quebec, surveys are conducted as in the rest of Canada, but with a few small differences.

Polling works by randomly sampling populations and then using statistical formulas to generalize the results from the sample to the whole population. Therefore, by polling a random sample of voters, one can get a fairly accurate idea of who will win the election. The process is not perfect, so in tight election races, surveys may not be able to determine who will be the winner.

All types of organizations and businesses use surveys to help them decide on what courses of action they should take for particular projects and campaigns. For example, businesses can use surveys to test which variations of their products work best with customers in a particular market.

Surveys in Quebec

As Quebec is a multilingual province with two main languages – French and English – surveys are conducted a little differently here than in the rest of Canada.

Many surveys today are run over the Internet. Participants register for accounts on polling websites providing personal details that the market research company uses to determine whether they are eligible for any particular survey.

Usually, such websites use software to quickly build up lists of eligible members for a survey and then notify the members by email or other messaging options.

In Quebec, survey web sites give users the ability to set their accounts for specific language preferences. For example, they could choose to participate in exclusively French language surveys or in exclusively English language surveys. Or they could choose to accept surveys in both French and English.

Quebecers under the age of 18 are also allowed to take part in surveys.

Compensation for Participants

Many polling companies offer some type of compensation or incentive for survey participants. For example, there are many paid surveys in which the participants are all paid a fee for taking part in the survey.

The fee may be in the form of one lump sum or it may be paid using a rate based on how long the survey takes to complete.

Other survey companies offer prizes, discounts, bonuses, sweepstakes and other incentives in order to entice people to take part in surveys. In most cases, in-person surveys are completed within a few hours. Phone surveys make take anywhere from less than a minute to 20 minutes or longer.

Online surveys usually do not take more than 15 to 30 minutes to complete, and many are even shorter in length.

Survey Sweepstakes in Quebec

Often surveys in Canada will offer sweepstakes as incentives, but with the warning “Void in Quebec” included. The reason that so many polling companies do not extend sweepstakes incentives to Quebeckers is that there are special laws in the province that regulate this practice.

The Quebec government has its own rules governing how companies can offer sweepstakes to the public, so there should be no worry about companies discriminating against Quebeckers. In order to offer sweepstakes in Quebec, contest holders must follow the following regulations:

• All rules and promotional ads used for the sweepstakes contest must be registered with Quebec provincial government at least 30 days prior to the start of the contest.
• A fee that can amount to 10 percent of the sweepstake’s value is required depending on who is allowed to enter the contest.
• The rules for the sweepstakes must follow strict guidelines set out by the government. For more information on these guidelines, see the following URL: https://www.insta-bond.com/content/dlForms/QuebecGamePromotionLaws.pdf
• The sweepstakes contest holder must allow the Quebec government to mediate any legal suits resulting from the contest.
• The sweepstakes contest holder must allow the government of Quebec to decide whether the contest may be cancelled or the rules changed after the sweepstakes have been launched.
• The sweepstakes contest holder must file a written report following the contest providing details on the distribution of the prizes.

Quebec’s strict sweepstakes laws are designed to protect its citizens from unscrupulous businesses or organizations that may attempt to defraud people for monetary gain.

Because of the strict guidelines, many survey sweepstakes contests are closed to Quebecers. However, some market research companies do make the special effort to create sweepstakes that follow all the rules required by the government of Quebec. Other surveys may simply choose to pay Quebecers for taking part in surveys or award their participants Air Miles or other prizes and bonuses.

Participating in Surveys in Quebec

If you are primarly an English speaker, you may find a legitimate list of Canadian market research companies who are open to Quebecers on our surveys list page.

If you prefer to take online surveys in French, please visit SondageRemunere.com.