Dear Editor,
I am replying to Freddie Kissoon’s letter captioned ‘Questions about pollster’ (SN, September 17) knowing fully well that regardless of what I pen, Mr Kissoon will never be satisfied with the response. I wish to point out that these questions were previously answered by myself and several others in all three dailies.
NACTA is located in NYC with Vassan Ramracha as its President. It is an organization which undertakes various activities, particularly of a humanitarian and educational nature, and includes among its membership a number of teachers.
I conduct polls for NACTA. We are volunteers and we do not get a salary for our efforts. I have asked the President to write a separate letter explaining the history of NACTA and my affiliation with the organization.
There is no contradiction with NACTA in my financing the polls. It is a fact that the polls conducted by myself for NACTA are self-financed. We operate on a shoe-string budget.
And no, we do not have a paid staff. Very few pollsters can afford a paid staff. I should note that the Republican pollsters, Dick Morris and Frank Luntz, who were commissioned by the AFC don’t have a paid staff either.
I teach in NYC. There is no requirement that one be a teacher in order to conduct a poll. There is also no criterion requiring one to be a member of an organization in order to conduct a poll. Dick Morris and Frank Luntz do not teach in America and they do not run organizations but they still conduct polls. They are qualified enough for the AFC to commission them to do polls and I think they are good and respected pollsters.
Regarding my career, I started as a tutor at CCNY in the late 1970s for several years. I became a Graduate Assistant after earning my Bachelors degree, then a Teaching Assistant, then Assistant to the Director of International Studies, Assistant to the Director of Latin American Studies, and Assistant to the Director of International Students and Extra Curricular Activities. I worked as a Research Assistant for Prof Zuzolo in Microbiology after my BSc degree. Currently I am certified to teach Social Studies and am a certified SDA by the State of NY.
I made a faux pas when I said, “I am the highest paid teacher of NYC.” It should have been “one of, or among the…” When one teaches for 22 years (I have taught for 25) and has obtained a doctorate or two Masters (or their equivalent), one reaches the highest pay scale, and I am on that scale.
I never said my “field operators stole time from their jobs.” They are professionals who did an outstanding job for me, and I thank them for their commitment and time.
Mr Kissoon is incorrect to say that I never revealed my field of studies or academic qualification. There are several reports about my qualifications in all the dailies penned by myself, Ravi Dev, Annan Boodram, etc. For the record, I did a BSc in Bio-Chemistry after which I did a second major in Political Science (which Mr Kissoon said does not exist). I have Masters degrees pursued various other graduate studies, including doctoral courses, and am an ABD (All But Dissertation) in Sociology.
Contrary to Mr Kissoon’s assertions, I did do survey research in Sociology (with Prof Santos) and in Anthropology (Prof Fremont Besmer and Prof Williams who wrote a dissertation on Guyana) and I have done doctoral courses in methodology in Political Science and Economics, etc. I previously penned that the late Kester Alves, advisor to Burnham and Hoyte, was in the same class with me at NYU taught by Prof Gary King who is now at Harvard. Dr Baytoram Ramharack also took the same class. I also took a survey research course with Prof Attewell of CUNY and other courses with Profs Grenwald, Gujerati, etc. I also did a doctoral research course with Prof Zeev Maoz of Jerusalem University, which Dr Ramharack also took.
Mr Boodram, an erudite gentleman and an outstanding investigative reporter who does not manufacture evidence to back his assertions, never wrote that “Bisram makes up for time while he is polling.”
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
