The Political and Social Analysis Laboratory (LAPS) is an organisation that can provide socio-economic operators, opinion makers and local, national and international institutions with analysis and fact-finding elements on the evolution of the main social, political and economic indicators relative to both the masses and the elite of a political or business community. This Lab combines the experience of a group of scholars at the University of Siena gathered around the Centre for the Study of Political Change (CIRCaP), a Centre of Excellence that can count on a research team at the international level with diversified experience in both methodological and disciplinary terms.
LAPS began operation in 2007 thanks to a contribution from the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation, and promotes large-scale and stable collaborations at the national and international level with organisations and institutions for market studies (German Marshall Fund of the US/Compagnia di San Paolo, TNS, etc.). It has enjoyed numerous experiences in national and international research with the European Union, private national, European and American Foundations, and participation in University projects.
LAPS provides analysis and indicators on the evolution of the main social, political and economic indicators relative to both the masses and the elite of a political or business community. Thanks to established expertise in the sectors of psychological study, public opinion and the processes of deliberative democracy, it offers a wide range of services to socio-economic operators, opinion makers and local, national and international institutions.
CAPI, CATI and CAWI Surveys
This organisation is equipped with a CAPI, CATI and CAWI laboratory with 10 telephone workstations. LAPS uses professional software that is able to cover all the phases of an opinion poll, market or marketing research: building a questionnaire and computerising it on a CATI-CAWI platform, creating a sampling plan, holding telephone interviews, preparing a data matrix and analysing the data produced.
Participatory Democracy
LAPS is active in the planning and realisation of events for deliberative democracy, such as citizens’ juries, deliberative pollings and town meetings. In addition to gathering participants, guaranteeing their casual selection through RDD (Random Digit Dialing) procedures of telephone numbers of private contracts, and the socio-demographic variety of the sample through stratification based on criteria such as gender, age, education level, place of residence and occupation, LAPS offers all services needed for the effective participation of citizens recruited and the supervision of the scientific aspects of similar events.