Swiss domain, American hiring: “double agency” of high-profile opinion polls of Russians

But, having decided to clarify something on the topic and get fresh “sociology” from the field of education, “MK” ran into a strange one.

It turned out that the named analytical agency, which interviewed teachers and tutors throughout Russia, does not have its own website. More precisely, on the third day of the search, which would be the envy of bloodhounds, the site A2 – advares.ch showed up. And they even told us by email why it wasn’t there before – “technical work was underway.” But there were no statistical data, a list of existing reports, and anything other than advertising on the “analytics” website.

MK managed to contact the representative of A2:Research (“Research” means “research”) via social networks via email. He sent the e-mail address of the sales department. From there, they really shared some statistics about teachers with us, but it is not clear from what ceiling they were taken.

The programmatic characteristics of the advares.ch site suggest its precocity and strange strategic placement.

“Even the most broken website has a “past,” comments programmer Ivan Berezin. — Here we see that this site was created in 2023. The .ch extension is the national top-level domain for Switzerland (and A2-Aos is also a Swiss system – Auth). Which, of course, is strange for a Russian sociological service. Well, maybe they chose such a name to consonance with “research”? As for their TG channel, it’s an ordinary channel, anyone can start one like that. And post whatever you want.

Yes, there is also a “proprietary” telegram channel A2:Resarch on the Web, which was kindly provided to us by fellow journalists in response to a request to send more complete data on the survey of teachers. The channel is organized in an interesting way: information about the topic with statistics in percentage and the number of respondents, then a link to the “report”. Only instead of a report – publication in a publication or on a network resource “together with A2:Research”. Links are looped and “refer” to each other according to the principle of a rooster or a cuckoo from Krylov’s fable. Some frivolous statistics are obtained: never before have Romir or VTsIOM, for example, appealed to the newspaper Trud or Vesti Karelia …

To further clarify the situation, MK called the phone number listed on the A2:Research website – it turned out to be an auto attendant, with whom we honestly shared our contacts. There was no answer. Then we went to the address marked on the A2 website with a flag on the map of Moscow. On Sushchevskaya Street, 27, there is an intricate business center. And in its very heart, as if in catacombs, a two-story building 5 was hidden. An office company, a men’s clothing store, massage, cosmetics are sitting there … But there is no trace or sign of the A2:Research company.

Finding nothing in reality, they again turned to “virtuality”. Enticing commercial information hangs on the website of the “center for marketing research and analytics” A2:Research. We collect 1200 respondents in 2 days! Sampling speed from 18 to 32 hours, surveys in any age category, and more. No summary statistics.

That is, we are not dealing with sociology and statistics, but pure marketing, or consulting. A commercial story using paid online surveys, most likely. No wonder they write that surveys are a new source of income for freelancing at a distance. In principle, this way you can order in advance any result of the “research” and get it. This is not a collection of answers among random passers-by or other unbiased respondents. And this begs the question: if surveys about teacher dissatisfaction are ordered, does it mean that someone needs it?

The accuracy of 820 thousand “active respondents with high involvement” is visualized in “A2:Research” on the map of Russia, hanging on the site in the “Contacts” section. And you know – this is also a strange card. Even on a conditional scale in which it was made, it is noteworthy that there are no Kuriles, for example. And Sakhalin looks somehow docked. But there are islands and islets of the Arctic Ocean. The map is also somehow wonderfully cropped from the south and south-west of the country: one gets the feeling that the North Caucasus has been separated, and the neighborhood line with the NMD zone looks, to put it mildly, cropped.

But this is not all the oddities and nebulae around the agency. Having undertaken a large-scale search for other references to A2:Research on the Web, MK “turned the wrong way” twice. There was, for example, a programmer and businessman from Krasnoyarsk Alexei Romanov with similar sites. Not a dream, not a spirit about A2:Resarch. He is engaged in ecology, does not touch anyone … There was also a Swiss operational system A2. “A robust real-time operating system suitable for embedded systems as well as industrial applications.”

But the company’s third network footprint, about hiring at A2:Research, was puzzling. Bypassing domestic hunters, the company recruits through the GlassDoor system (an online recruiter and feedback provider based in San Francisco). And there, employees describe A2:Research: “pluses” – a cozy family business. “Cons”: “According to the state contract, the contractor changes every 5 years, and the government stops work” …

Your will, it turns out some kind of Bulgakov-Volandov situation. The mysterious “service” A2:Research works with the most recognizable brands (different divisions of Yandex or Sokolov). In the period 2022-2023, the largest information resources continually refer to it: Forbes, Vedomosti, Izvestia, Kommersant , Gazeta.ru, Lenta, etc. Colleagues cryptically write: “Information data is at the disposal of the editors.” And where the firewood, that is, “data”, is unknown.

However, nothing is published together with A2:Research. If you look closely, almost all the information relates to social topics. Among the latter: scooters on the streets, tired teachers, a difficult exam, inaccessible tourism … Or, here, the most recent one is the disconnection of domestic owners of German cars from international IT systems. That is, a certain information picture is created. Disturbing fata morgana over the Russian information field.

MK spoke to experts about what the elusive analytics agency with a Swiss domain, American hires and Russian surveys could mean. Which is not clear whether they are carried out or not. And how are they carried out?

For example, from the agency, again by mail, we were told that by September 1, “1286 teachers participated in the survey – teachers, university professors, tutors and teachers of online schools.” But then the results of the study are unrepresentative. You can not put tutors on the same level as teachers and teachers. Sorry, the tutor simply has nowhere to “return” on September 1 …

It is also noteworthy that A2 “research” is based on online surveys without verification of respondents. That is, it is not clear who answered the questions of the questionnaire on the Internet and it is not clear how many times …

Experts called two versions of “strangeness in the cube” that accompanies the situation with A2. The first and most obvious is the information stuffing that always accompanies ideological confrontation. And the dates match: A2:Research started publishing actively in 2022. It is clear that the information war does not shy away from such methods as ordering certain topics that create certain moods among the masses. And even if the customers are lucky, they loosen the situation.

While the authorities are trying to build a unified ideology and concept of education, someone is confusing the cards. That is, he is trying to turn public opinion against state institutions and thus cast a shadow on everything that is being done in the country. And he does it very plausibly, choosing such areas and strata that concern everyone.

Many teachers are tired of paperwork and routine – yes, they are tired. Some parents want to get rid of the Unified State Exam – as much as they want. Everyone is tired of scooters, the prices for trips to the sea have skyrocketed, are there any difficulties with the software?… Yes, yes and yes. And then the “difficulties of translation” begin.

The teachers are fed up with everything, but it is unlikely that they are as many as 71%. Or “9 out of 10 Russians cannot go on vacation every month” – they couldn’t do it in such quantities before, it’s expensive. “Only a quarter of Russians are satisfied with the results of their children’s USE” – this is definitely not true, at least half are satisfied for sure. Truth and lies are also very close and similar in terms of ideological warfare.

In theory, having a similar agency with numbers and percentages, you can kill two birds with one stone. Questionnaires collect all sorts of user data and information on businesses, get the “required” results, and media publications affect the information climate. And even they make the weather, if there is a lot of such “truthful” material.

The second version is internal. It’s no secret that big, big companies are run by a very small number of “friends.” But there are usually a lot of those, there are not enough seats for all. Therefore, such studies can also be caused by the next redistribution of the market in the style of the Musical Chairs game. This is when everyone runs around the “hot chairs” and takes their places on a signal. There are usually many players, more than seats. And the “hot chairs” in education are, for example, unified textbooks that are about to be introduced in schools. First in history, then in social studies, then in all subjects.

One can only imagine what is at stake in a completely non-child story with uniform textbooks. Considering that all copyrights will be transferred to the state. Exclusive rights, trademarks, publishing-republishing possibilities too…

Then even those who receive a state order lose many, the rest are completely left with an empty chair. And no one wants to lose such a huge amount of money. What is a “family agency” compared to them, even if it operates from Switzerland itself? Yes, even from the San Fernando Valley, even open an office on the Moon. In the era of relocation, it doesn’t matter.

Now imagine several such customers. After all, the most common topics for A2:Research “analytics” are education, tourism, software and medicine.

And this is true from a philistine point of view in its best sense. The so-called common people are the true salt of the earth. Like the heroes of the wonderful film “Love and Doves” by Vladimir Menshov. What are they doing? They give birth and teach children, they are treated – let’s remember the plot of the plot, Vasily’s trip to the sanatorium. Resting – there, the fees of the head of the family to the resort “to indulge”, for the first time in their lives. They were just not keen on computers – well, there were no computers then. But there was electrosleep and fashionable talk about extrasensory perception.

And judging by the interest and trust with which Vasily listened to Raisa Zakharovna’s wild tales about “specific Filipino medicine” and sexless aliens, almost anything can be sold to “pigeons”. The main thing is that the feelings lay down and at least a little like the truth.