Fake surveys stir up anger

A researcher working on a Government crime survey used to set policy and allocate spending has been fired after faking results.

The National Research Bureau sacked the man after checks revealed many of the 20 or so interviews he submitted for the Ministry of Justice study were made up.

NRB director Larry Hill said about four staff were dismissed every year for similar incidents.

"As far as we're concerned it's a catastrophe. Having these things happen four times a year is four times too many."

Auckland woman Shamin Vasar is planning an official complaint after a false survey was submitted in her name and her signature forged on a consent form.

"That's the bit that really gets me, that he forged my signature, because that's fraud," she said.

Vasar said the interviewer came to her house, spoke to her flatmate Joe Stanners and took both their names. Stanners told him he could return later to speak to Vasar but he never did.

She was alerted a month later when a supervisor visited the house to check the interview was genuine.

Vasar said she was concerned research staff weren't properly vetted because some of the questions were "extremely private".

Respondents were asked about their experience of crime, including whether they had been abused by their partner.

The survey of more than 5000 people was last carried out in 2006, and is used by the Government to identify people most at risk of crime, and how much crime is going unreported.

Data collected by the NRB is analysed by staff at Victoria University in Wellington, the Ministry of Justice and an independent statistician and then fed into the policy-making process.

Hill said the ministry had been informed.

The problem was picked up through routine checks, which include phoning interviewees to check details and monitoring the computer-based survey systems for warning signs, such as questionnaires that had been completed too quickly or at odd times of the day.

Once a problem was suspected the staff member's work was checked by a supervisor.

"A good proportion of this interviewer's [surveys] were found to be false," Hill said.

The man was aged 18-34, a relatively new immigrant to New Zealand and had not worked on any other surveys.

Safeguarding against false responses was an ongoing problem for the entire industry, Hill said.

"I couldn't honestly tell you we are 100 per cent confident that every last instance of fraud is detected.

"What I can tell you is we spend a lot of time and a lot of effort trying to detect it."

A Justice Ministry spokesman said detection of the false surveys showed good checks were in place and there was no plan to stop using NRB.

"The ministry is satisfied the survey company has taken the appropriate remedial actions and that there will be no impact on the integrity of the survey, or any conclusions that might be drawn from it," the spokesman said.

heather.mccracken@heraldonsunday.co.nz