Blog

In the previous blog, I discussed the impact of Machine Learning (ML) in our current world. We ended with two questions: 1. In this brave new world of AI and machine learning (ML), how do we operate? 2. As individuals, groups, businesses, and governments, how do we navigate a landscape filled with ML? We need to understand what we’re working with before we can plan how to move forward. This blog will dive into some of the machinery that makes AI and machine learning work.

For the purposes of this blog, we’re going to be focusing in on machine learning (ML), a subset of AI that focuses on understanding and building methods that let machines “learn”: training data is leveraged by algorithms to improve the performance of models. These models can describe anything that you are trying to predict or classify based on underlying characteristics.

The new guidelines made headlines in Canada and abroad, generating a public debate about what this meant for people’s relationships with drinking, social habits and perceptions of risk associated with it. In light of these new guidelines, DS conducted an online survey among Canadians in March to understand their perceptions of these new rules and their intent to follow them in the future. Will Canadians really limit themselves to two weekly alcohol drinks?

As agencies begin deploying tools like ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E, and Midjourney, many are eager to understand their disruptive effects' true scale and nature. In this blog, we explore how generative AI can help streamline processes, personalize experiences, and enhance creative output, as well as the challenges and limitations these technologies present.

Recently, public safety issues have gained considerable attention among policymakers and everyday Canadians. For instance, random stranger attacks in Vancouver became a focal point of the city’s 2022 municipal election campaign, while debates over gun control continue at the federal level. With this in mind, we believe it is important to understand how everyday Canadians perceive issues like violent crime, random attacks, and vandalism in their communities, as well as why these issues arise and who bears responsibility for solving them. These perceptions can influence individual behaviour and institutional decision-making, and can significantly impact trust in and satisfaction with government and law enforcement.

The Greyhound project is a DS-led, always-running research polling project across Canada that allows to regularly ask Canadians about a variety of current events, understudied issues, and other research curiosities. Greyhound is our space to innovate, contribute to public opinion research in Canada, and share our findings with a wider public.

Did you know that 70% of elected federal officials in 2021 were men? With more public calls for gender parity, why is this social change so slow to come? An experiment ran by DataSciences reveals that the Canadian public is open to electing women, but also less confident in female candidates' odds of winning their elections compared to men.

September 30 in 2021 marked the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada (TR day). To gauge mainstream response to this new initiative, and to provide baseline data to track engagement over time, we asked a representative online sample of Canadians to tell us if and how they observed the day.

Canada has just kicked off its COVID-19 vaccination campaign for kids aged 5 to 11, yet another vaccination campaign is also in full swing. This year, health officials are especially insisting on the need for Canadians to get their flu shot. We investigate how Canadians might react to overlapping vaccination campaigns, and examine how the pandemic context could impact citizens' motivations to get a flu shot.