The previous couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of travelling around dealing with 'questions' and trying to make some sense of them (and ultimately - get the vote to go the way I am mandated to support). It left me thinking of the title of this blog entry, what IS in a question?

The study of opinion polls, data sampling and voting interpretations is a specialist field that can be taken to a doctorate level of study and yet it is a subject that I am sure many of us would presume we all know about already. I know how to ask for something and I know how to answer a question, it’s a simple response that we participate in every day.

So I now have some questions for you, and I hope that you are able to take them at face value as an exercise in human perception:

On Reform:

"Reform of NUS means less real students running NUS, will you join our campaign against it?"
"Reform of NUS means real students running NUS, will you support the changes?"

Both of these questions throw up the principal argument in their opening words and lead on a response.

On Affiliation:

"Should Fibchester Students Union disaffiliate from NUS?"
"Should Fibchester Students Union remain Affiliated to NUS?"

Both of these questions use terms that student officers understand but that students 'on the street' would find very hard to interpret!

On the fees debate:

"Should Fibchester Students stand against NUS's policy on fees?"
"Should Fibchester Students adopt the following policy?" (followed by a page of text that most readers would not be bothered to read all the way through)

These questions both point towards the same argument (disagreement with NUS's funding policy) but one seeks to wrap that up in long winded principals, whereas the first is keen on presenting a 'them and us' point of view on the debate. The first is more truthful but is it the correct way of making students understand the question?

I've seen questions just like all these over the last couple of weeks, travelling around the countries that make up the United Kingdom.

Should Queens remain affiliated to NUS/USI? (88% said yes - woo!) This is obviously a fantastic result and one that reaffirms the fact that NUS/USI is a key institution in the cooperation in Irish politics. However it does leave me wondering: the yes campaign had a debate (with itself) the day before the vote, but on the day of voting, with no 'institutional propaganda' about the vote, how could the students understand the choice? Never mind that they made the right decision; I will continue to attend referenda and support our national union (more than can be said for some of my colleagues), but it remains hard to put across coherent arguments in a hive of activity that is an affiliation referendum.

Should Bangor Students Union adopt the following policy? (Socialists students Campaign to Defeat Fees text followed this loose question and 30 less people than apparently called for the vote actually voted yes in the referendum) This will no doubt be held up as a resounding indictment on the NUS leadership machine, and a view from grassroots students! As a member of the NO campaign, campaigning in Bangor on the day of the vote, I have to say that the only 'machine' that was in town was the one spouting half truths in an attempt to get their unfeasible policy endorsed. The only question that could have properly presented the arguments was a description of both campaigns ideals with a 'tick here to agree with this one' option. That would have been the only way to truly inform the voters what they were deciding through the question.

And finally the question of Reform, now this has been cropping up in Council's and General meetings in students' unions across the country, and without couching the question in one line and through a process of constructive debate, unions across Wales are calling for an extraordinary conference and will continue to do so.

NUS Reform is something that cannot and should not be restricted to one line and should be a process of engagement that see those interested in change coming together to shape the National Union of Students.

Lets give the one-liners the boot!

Yours in Unity and Pedantry

Ben

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