Naked City

North Austin resident Sandhya Shardanand has an M.B.A., and knows all about market polling and research. For that reason she answers every telephone survey that comes her way -- just to see if the pollster's asking fair and balanced questions. Last week she got a call from someone claiming to work for a polling firm hired by Wal-Mart to conduct research in Austin, so she listened very carefully to the questions, judging them for content and clarity. The wording of the questions, she says, made it extremely difficult to voice an unfavorable opinion of the world's largest retailer. "It was set up so that even if you were very sure of your personal convictions, unless you thought really hard about it, you could easily give answers totally opposed to your own opinion."

The poll began with a bias test. What did Shardanand think of Wal-Mart? The Save Our Springs Alliance? The Chronicle? Those questions led her to conclude that the poll was about one Wal-Mart in particular -- the controversial Supercenter proposed for MoPac and Slaughter Lane. Out of concern for the folks who would live in its shadow, Shardanand says, she opposes the Supercenter. Yet even she had to think carefully about the "misleading and illogical" questions that followed to ensure that her opposition remained clear. One statement with which she was asked to agree or disagree: "I'd really like a Wal-Mart in my neighborhood, but I don't like the way they look." "That's two statements in one," Shardanand says. "It's a very common technique of tricking people." The pollster also asked Shardanand "blanket" questions -- for example, "Would you be for or against a pharmacy or optometrist in your local grocery store?" "That's very generic," Shardanand argues. "Such questions don't really go to whether you want a Wal-Mart in your neighborhood."

Representatives for Wal-Mart couldn't be reached for comment on the survey. Shardanand says she tried to research the company claiming to perform the poll, but had no luck finding them anywhere on the Internet or the Yellow Pages. She believes the pollster worked for Wal-Mart HQ. "Inch by inch, they were trying to make me say [the Southwest Austin Supercenter] was OK."