Day 134 - 13 Jun 95 - Page 37


     
     1        most of the questions, the vast majority, are positive
     2        questions, are they not?  I mean:  "The restaurant has a
     3        good reputation as an employer"; "I am free to take
     4        problems to a higher level".  I mean all the questions are
     5        positive if you answer "yes"?
     6        A.  Yes.
     7
     8   Q.   The feel good factor; if you answer "yes" you feel good,
     9        everything is fine?
    10        A.  I am not sure I would describe it like that, but they
    11        are worded positively, yes.
    12
    13   Q.   Is this not a well-known technique to ensure you get
    14        favourable results?
    15        A.  I have no idea if it is a well-known technique; it is
    16        not one I am aware of.
    17
    18   Q.   But if you are going to be relying on this survey, which
    19        you have said, to gauge whether McDonald's workers have
    20        grievances or are unhappy or happy or whatever, you would
    21        want to be sure you were getting a fair picture, would you
    22        not?
    23        A.  Yes.
    24
    25   Q.   So why are not some of the questions balanced with, for
    26        example, questions such as:  "I feel I am working in an
    27        unsafe environment" or "My pay is too low for the work that
    28        I do"?
    29        A.  I do not accept your description of why the questions
    30        are worded in that way and why doing it that way would make
    31        a different result.  I simply do not know, but I do not see
    32        why that would make any difference.
    33
    34   Q.   Have you had advice from polling organisations or
    35        professionals on the value of asking all positive questions
    36        in a survey?
    37        A.  What we have had advice on is the content of the survey
    38        from the consultancy which has advised McDonald's in the
    39        USA who are, I think, experts in their field.
    40
    41   Q.   They are experts in being paid for by McDonald's,
    42        presumably, to -----
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Look, just hold on a moment because you are
    45        assuming that which I do not know, that this was prepared
    46        in order to publish to the outside world rather than to
    47        find out what might be improved by McDonald's for their own
    48        benefit.
    49
    50        Before your point can have any merit at all, I have to have 
    51        some evidence that it was prepared for publication to the 
    52        outside world.  If it was prepared in order to try to find 
    53        out where things were going wrong, if they were going
    54        wrong, in order to improve them, your point would have no
    55        value whatsoever.  So you had better establish what it was
    56        for, first of all.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:  My point is not that it is prepared for the outside
    59        world, but that it is not an indicator of whether people
    60        are genuinely satisfied or unsatisfied with McDonald's, is

Prev Next Index