PULS (Public Understanding of Law) Survey

What is the survey about?

This is an important survey to find out how people deal with a range of issues faced in everyday life, such as with housing, work, or within families; and the types of help that are needed and used to do this.

It’s a survey about the law, but it’s not a survey for lawyers – it’s about things that you’ll maybe know about – faulty goods, how to get repairs done in your rental, what to do if things go wrong with your work, family law (such as divorce or custody), parking fines, what to do if you have a bad neighbour, and how you might get help to deal with these sorts of things.

Your answers are valuable whether you think you know a lot or nothing, whether you have had experiences with these sorts of issues or not, and whoever you are. If we’ve called at your home and chosen you, we really want to talk to you. And a big thank you for helping.

What difference will it make?

This is the first survey like this in Victoria. We’re speaking to a lot of people and a lot of time and care has gone into preparing for this. The aim is to make it easier for people to deal with issues like this. It will influence government policy and practice across the legal industry – lawyers, community groups, organisations that are there to help when you need advice.

In a few months’ time you’ll start to see the results of this survey being reported. Look for results from the ‘Public Understanding of Law Survey’.

How do I take part?

If we contact you, we’ll randomly choose one person in your home to speak to. We can:

• interview the person chosen there and then, or
• make an appointment for another time.

Then it’s pretty simple – we have some questions that we’d like you to answer, and we can talk to you at your door, on your verandah, in your house, or on the phone – whatever works for you. It will take about 40 minutes – but please don’t worry:

• the questions are about things that matter to people
• when we’ve tested the questions, people have really enjoyed taking part

You don’t need any particular knowledge or experience, just answer what you think, and use whatever experience you’ve had in your life.

How long will the survey take?

The interview usually takes around 40 minutes to complete, depending on your responses.

Why have you chosen me?

This is a survey of 6,000 Victorians, right across the state. Everyone 18 and over is eligible, but we need to speak to a wide range of people that we choose at random. That way we know we have results that we can rely on.

Households are selected at random by a computer. Interviewers don’t choose who to interview, and you can’t volunteer to be interviewed if you’re not chosen.

So if we’ve asked to speak to you, you’re pretty special! You’re one of 6,000 people we’ll interview, and you’re speaking on behalf of the four and a half million adults in Victoria. Your voice really counts in this and we’re pleased to hear from you.

What about confidentiality and privacy?

We take your privacy and confidentiality seriously. We’re a respected, professional research company, the oldest in Australia and we’ve been in this business for 80 years. We’re not selling anything, we just want your opinions. The information you give us will be confidential and anonymous, and we never sell your information to anyone else.

We hope you’ll want to be part of this, but if you don’t want to take part, you don’t have to. Just say no and we’ll respect that.

What are we doing about COVID safety?

 

We want you to feel safe about COVID:

 

• Our interviewers are fully vaccinated and they have to confirm every day that they have no symptoms before they begin work
• Interviewers carry face masks and hand sanitizer – they will use these when they are calling at your home and speaking with you
• Interviewers will try to maintain a social distance of at least 1.5m
• You can be interviewed where you choose – on your doorstep, verandah or somewhere else outside is fine. Or you can invite the interviewer inside if you are comfortable with that. We can also arrange to do the interview by phone
• If you are uncomfortable about being interviewed at all because of COVID, please say so. We will respect that

 

How does the prize draw work?

We want to say thank you for taking part. If you agree, we’ll put your name into a prize draw for one of 10 EFTPOS cards worth $500 each.

With the delay to fieldwork because of COVID, the draw won’t take place until late 2022. To those of you who helped by taking part in 2021, thank you for your patience – your name is still in the draw.

Terms and conditions for the prize draw can be found here.

When is this survey happening?

 

We will be going out and talking to people across Victoria starting in February 2022, and we hope to finish towards the middle of June 2022. We’ve already interviewed a few people back in June and July 2021 – so thank you to those people who helped (your names are still in the prize draw list, but the draw has been delayed until we finish all the surveys).

 

Because of the COVID lockdowns in Victoria in 2021, we had to stop interviewing until it was legal and safe to do so. We’re excited to get back out and start talking to you in 2022 – it has been a long wait!

About Roy Morgan

Roy Morgan is the oldest market research company in Australia, one of the biggest and probably the best known. We were founded 80 years ago in Melbourne, and now we work across Australia, and in several other countries. We’re proudly independent, and Australian-owned.

We do surveys like this for government and not for profit organisations, and we work for lots of companies across Australia. You’ll maybe know us for our opinion polls, for the work we do understanding which brands you trust and those you don’t, for the work we do to understand Australia’s people and our economy, and in helping companies across the country with the information they need to grow and thrive. We’re the people who gather the data about the newspapers and magazines you read, and the television you watch.

You can read more about us at www.roymorgan.com.

About the Victoria Law Foundation

The Victoria Law Foundation (VLF), which has commissioned Roy Morgan to deliver this survey, is an independent not for profit organisation working to improve the justice system for all Victorians. The VLF supports better justice through research, education and grants. Their research uncovers how people understand and navigate the law, assesses services that support better justice, and identifies common legal needs.

They provide education and run events to help Victorians understand the legal system, provide students with access to information about the law, and help legal professionals communicate better about their work.

You can find out more about the VLF at www.victorialawfoundation.org.au.

Their website also has more information about this survey, at www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/research/puls.