Transparency International (TI) will commission a new poll on corruption in Taiwan, an official said yesterday, after the group’s original findings sparked widespread skepticism in the nation.
Transparency International Chinese Taipei (TICT) executive director Kevin Yeh (葉一璋) said the Berlin-based group has agreed to conduct a new poll, although how this will be funded has yet to be determined.
Yeh said TICT is expected to foot most of the bill, but it is discussing the issue with its parent organization in the hope that it will provide some of the funds.
Yeh did not give an estimate of how much a new poll would cost.
TICT is planning to hire an impartial and experienced polling firm to handle the project after discussing issues such as survey methodology and questionnaire structuring with TI, Yeh said.
The non-governmental organization came under fire after its 2013 Global Corruption Barometer report said that 36 percent of people in Taiwan who had used one of eight government services in the past year had paid a bribe.
The report sparked skepticism as the percentage was far higher than the 7 percent and 2 percent figures reported in TI’s 2010 and 2006 reports respectively, the only other times Taiwan was in the survey.
Skepticism was heightened when media found that the firm listed as having conducted the Taiwan survey — Shanghai-based WisdomAsia — denied having done the job.
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