Consultant backs survey’s security, method

OF MORE than 1200 people who have taken part in an online survey about the future of Queenstown and Wanaka Airports, only two have had antivirus problems, according to consultants MartinJenkins.

Wanaka Stakeholders Group chairman Michael Ross said earlier this week the survey had been ‘‘flagged’’ by the Norton Antivirus programme as “a known dangerous web page’’.

In response, principal consultant Jason LeungWai said there had been ‘‘only a few’’ requests for technical support.

‘‘We are aware of two respondents that have been blocked by Norton AntiVirus.

‘‘One was subsequently able to access the survey.’’

Mr LeungWai said the online survey platform had been around since 2006 and complied with the ‘‘highest standard of data protection in the world’’.

Answering other criticisms from Mr Ross, Mr LeungWai said the survey was designed to ‘‘capture’’ a broad range of responses ‘‘rather than to generate a statistically representative sample’’.

‘‘While we encourage people to only do the survey once, the findings will not be materially affected by multiple responses.’’

In a letter to Mr LeungWai, Mr Ross said the survey questions were found to be ‘‘ambiguous’’, ‘‘vague’’, ‘‘loaded’’ and ‘‘misleading’’.

Mr LeungWai responded by saying the questions were intended to be openended.

‘‘Survey responses received thus far suggest that people are generally able to understand and respond to the questions.’’

The public was able to offer alternative airport scenarios to the four included in the survey, he said.

The survey was not a formal consultation process ‘‘but rather stakeholder and community engagement to inform’’ MartinJenkins’ analysis of the social and economic impacts of airport development.