Briefing
El País has announced that it has made a complete dataset on its latest poll publicly available. The documents provided include the results report, the full questionnaire, standardised cross-tabulations and the anonymised individual data (response matrices), intended to enable replication and in-depth further analysis. A review of the available publications confirms that the release clearly relates to Spain: it documents the views and voting information of the sample surveyed in Spanish territories and includes methodological details on sampling, fieldwork dates and weighting.
The announcement names the institute 40dB as the polling organisation; comparable publications by the same data provider also include metadata on sample size, fieldwork period and weighting factors used. The combination of questionnaire, cross-tabulations and individual data meets the standards for transparency and replicability recommended in Spanish social research: researchers, media and interested members of the public can use it to follow checks such as reweighting, subgroup analyses or alternative operationalisations.
Data protection is important for journalistic use: according to the publishers, the individual data provided have been anonymised, in line with standard practice to prevent people from being identified. From an editorial perspective, however, it is advisable to make a brief check of the anonymisation measures before any further distribution and, if necessary, contact the data provider.
The release strengthens the verifiability of poll results in Spain and enables independent analysis. This newsroom's preliminary review confirmed its national relevance and its inclusion in the El País barometer; all key information comes from the published data collections and the pollsters' metadata.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).