Precision Pollster

DigiPoll® Ltd. evolved from the University of Waikato's Survey Research Unit (SRU), which was established by Dr Gabriel Dekel upon his arrival from Canada in February 1995.

The Digipoll story
In May 1997, following the University's closure of the SRU, and at the invitation of a Fortune 500 company, Dr Dekel started DigiPoll Ltd. From humble beginnings in his own garage, the company has grown steadily and now employs over 400 staff and has over 75 workstations. It ranks among the top field work providers for Market Research in New Zealand. It occupies modern and spacious premises in Hamilton East, using state of the art technology and equipment. DigiPoll's continuing success in delivering precise data has resulted in word-of-mouth increases in its client base. The story behind the amazing success that DigiPoll has enjoyed, makes for interesting reading with hard work and good business acumen playing the major roles.

Dr. Gabriel Dekel: The brain behind the dream:
The DigiPoll story began in February 1995 when Dr Gabriel Dekel was hired by the Waikato University's department of political science and public policy to set up a facility to carry out surveys both for academic purposes and for public agencies, political parties and the media. Dr Dekel has a PhD in local government planning from the University of Western Ontario and 18 years of experience in planning and research.
Dr Gabriel Dekel reluctantly left his family behind when he left Canada for a job at Waikato University in Hamilton. The latest technology in the rapidly developing science of opinion surveying, Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) was used in New Zealand Herald-Waikato University opinion polls for the 1996 election. The results of those first polls were amazingly accurate and the ‘Survey Research Unit’ was congratulated for its outstanding contribution. However despite this successful beginning, for some inexplicable reason, the University lost interest in the project and decided to shut down the unit. Consequently it left Dr. Dekel without a job. Dr. Dekel says “Looking back now, that was the best thing the University could have done to me but at the time I was devastated.” He refused to give up though and decided to follow his dream on his own.

Digipoll is born
Backed by a Fortune 500 company in 1997, Dr. Dekel set up a small operation by the name of DigiPoll Ltd. in his own garage. The company had only about 10 employees and together with his wife, Rachel, Dr. Dekel continued to utilise and refine the research systems which he had developed. The operation was instantaneously successful and since then the company has never looked back.

Dr Lewis Fretz
Special mention here must be made of Dr Lewis Fretz who was the motivating spirit of DigiPoll Ltd. as it exists today. Dr Fretz was a Senior Lecturer at the Political Science and Public Policy Department, the University of Waikato. Upon the closure of the SRU, Dr Fretz provided encouragement and moral support to Dr Gabriel Dekel in his ambition to set up his own company. Dr Fretz passed away on 26 April 1999 following a battle with cancer.

Experts put technology at work
He found CATI in the United States and has since refined the program and set up a state-of-the-art interviewing laboratory. CATI speeds up and improves the process of telephone interviewing, with the computer automatically dialing random telephone numbers created by the computer and directing interviewers through sets of questions. Answers are entered directly into the computer, which analyses data as it is received. Biases in samples can be quickly detected and corrected and the quality of interviewing is easily regulated.
He said sophisticated surveying could be an important force in enhancing democracy. "The silent majority can have a voice and the public itself becomes a pressure group. It's a way of restoring town hall democracy." The university context benefited the public, the university and the client, he said. The university benefited from revenue and from the relationship with the community, while clients get the benefit of quality research, expert analysis and competitive prices.
[By Shenagh Gleeson, HAMILTON, The New Zealand Herald, July 13, 1996, On the eve of the election campaign]

The New Zealand 1996 Elections

'Herald Poll' within a whisker[whole story here]

Pollsters at the survey research unit of Waikato University were deservedly congratulating themselves yesterday. Their final pre-election poll for the New Zealand Herald came closest of any to the election-night result.
The poll published on Friday had National with 33 per cent (the party won 34 per cent of the ballot on Saturday) and Labour 29.4 per cent. In the event Labour got 28 per cent. Unlike other surveys in the last week of the campaign, the Waikato University sample had New Zealand First and the Alliance in the right order. The unit double-checked its sample after finding the Alliance scoring lower than in other polls last week. But it turns out to have been almost spot on. The Alliance won just 10.1 per cent on election night, a little less than the 10.6 per cent in the poll. Praise came also from the new MP for Wellington Central yesterday. Speaking about the election result, the leader of Act, Richard Prebble, said "the Herald poll has turned out to be the most accurate in predicting the election." [NZ Herald: October 14, 1996]

Opinion Poll Spot on
Opinion polling might not be an exact science, but the latest Herald-DigiPoll before the election gave a whisker-close preview of the new parliament. Translated into seats, Dr Gabriel Dekel's polling system was spot on with the Alliance, Greens, New Zealand First and United numbers in the House, and was only one or two seats out with Labour, ACT, and National.

The colourful Hamilton-based pollster was also uncannily accurate in predicting the make-up of the first MMP Parliament in 1996. Last night he put his success down to the sampling system he devised to get accurate geographical representation of voters.
[NZ Herald: December 11, 1999]