The survey aims at collecting data on the extent of use of the ICT in the country. It would reveal the percentages of households and individuals (15 years or above) using internet for purposes including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, WhatsApp, SnapChat, Blogs and forums. Also provide indicators on the percentage of ownership and use of smart phones, their various applications, and the proportion of households with a computer (desktop, laptop or tablet) and the percentage of people who use computer. It will also ascertain the number of people who possess basic skills on using computers for the purpose of sending mails, making use of applications like Excel, making presentations, writing a computer program using programming languages, and other such skills.

The sample consists of 2,500 Omanis and expatriates aged 18 years and above in all governorates of the Sultanate.

Data were collected during the period from 6 to 17 January 2016 through telephone interviews with a sample of Omanis and expatriates residing in the Sultanate. Interviews were conducted in three different languages: Arabic, English and Urdu.

·        The main objectives of the poll on bank prizes in general are as follows:

·        Identify the most important criteria for the respondents’ selection of banks, such as spread of branches,spread of deposit and withdrawal machines, good customer service, availability of Islamic banking, good prizes and raffles, and other criteria.

·        Measure the demand for Islamic banking in the banking sector and the use of banking applications to carry out bankingtransactions.

·        Identify the views of Omanis and expatriates on some matters relating to bank prizes and raffles offered by banks, such as satisfaction with those prizes, support for continuation and increasing them by the banks, extent of transparency in the procedures for winner selection, and other issues.

·        Identify the impact of the prizes and raffles offered by banks on attracting depositors and ensuring their loyalty.

Data were collected during the period from 27 November to 15 December 2016 through telephone interviews with a sample of Omanis and expatriates residing in the Sultanate. Interviews were conducted in three different languages: Arabic, English and Urdu.

Total sample size was 2,965 male and female respondents (1,693 Omanis and 1,272 expatriates) in the age group (18 years old and over) from all governorates of the Sultanate and from various educational levels and age groups.

Roads and transport systems are among the major infrastructure sectors, owing to their direct links with a host of crucial social activities including communication as well as economic activities that have a bearing on the growth of national economy.

According to figures for 2014 released by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the total length of asphalt roads under its supervision stood at 13 568 km, compared with 9319 km in 2005. Towards developing the public transport system in Oman, the ministry established a special agency named Oman National Transport Company (ONTC) in November 2015, and the number of people who used the ONTC transport services touched approximately 1.1 million passengers as of March 2016.

The (NCSI ) poll has been designed with a view to support the efforts of various stakeholders to develop an efficient public transport system in the Sultanate, and also to aid decision-makers and specialists in the field of public transport.

• To assess the extent of people's satisfaction with the road infrastructure, traffic and safety systems including various laws and regulations in force, periodic maintenance of roads and the extent of adherence to deadlines in project implementation.

• To assess the popularity of public transportation .

•  To identify the most important suggestionsof public  to improve roads and  public transport system.

The survey targeted citizens and residents in the Sultanate who are at the age of 18 years or more. The sample size of 3,000 person (minimum) of the different governorates of the Sultanate, and this number allows to attain most estimates of the desired ratios from this survey on the overall level of the Sultanate and the level of the governorates within the margin of error does not exceed 3%. 

The weights  are used so that the sample properties in term of demographic following variables: the governorates sex , nationality (citizen/expatriate) , educational level ( less than secondary , secondary , higher secondary) , and age ( less than 30 years , 30-49 0.50 years and over ) with distribution of the Omani society , according to 2015 estimates .

The data of traffic safety poll collect through phone calls using landline and mobile phone. This method is reliable because it saves time, effort, and cost of data collection. Computer assisted telephonic interview (CATI) is an appropriate method for the survey subject because of the ease and limited number of questions. The questionnaire is available in English for opinions of residents who do not speak Arabic.

The majority of banks in the Sultanate of Oman attract deposits and support savings by offering various attractive promotions, prizes,and cash draws to its clients.Banks emphasize that these prizes are an effective tool to support savings and attract depositors. Due to the increase of those schemes recently, the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) conducted this poll in collaboration with the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) to know the opinions of the Omani citizens and expatriates about the various aspects related to the prize schemes and  cash draws by the banks and their impact on attracting depositors and supporting investment in the banking sector in the Sultanate.

Traffic accidents are considered the most important global problems which facing humanity and which have a social and economic damage, the World Report talked about the case of the road safety in 2013 that injuries caused by traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among young people aged between 15-29 in which requires intervention procedures to enhance road safety, which may reduce the severity of this phenomenon.

 At the local level, indicate statistics released by the Traffic Department of the Royal Oman Police recorded 5768 traffic accident in Oman in 2014 claimed the lives of 816 people and resulted in the injury of 4143.

 During the last years, the competent authorities of traffic safety made efforts to promote the road safety. And the most important work was the traffic safety seminar, which was held in response to the orders of the High Commissioner in May of 2010, which resulted in the number of recommendations came from including the need to adopt a scientific, academic and research institutions more of scientific studies and research in the field of traffic safety, and to encourage and provide appropriate support for those interested in studying and traffic issues.

Many countries of the world doing polls about the traffic safety , for example, implementation a joint poll between EU countries every year , it aims to find out the most important safety problems irrigated in those countries , and know the areas where the population feels that the concerned authorities are not doing enough in order to achieve traffic safety , Another Example is the survey about traffic safety and awareness , which in Texas which is implemented annually in Taxes by conducting  personal interviews to those who are at the age of 18 years and above and aims to measure the level of awareness and compliance with traffic regulations

this proposal comes to implementation  the opinion poll about the traffic safety in the framework of the efforts to promote traffic safety by identifying the level of awareness and commitment to the principles and laws of road safety , and end up with indicators  which can be used in decision-making and  prepare  more detailed studies on this subject

The public Opinion poll about traffic safety aims to provide information about the current conditions of traffic safety including the following:

• To know the opinion of the audience about traffic congestion, and its causes.

• To Measure the knowledge and commitment of traffic laws which relate to seat belts, the speed limit and the usage of cell phone while driving.

•To know the Omani views about the problem of traffic accidents causes and behaviors that lead to it.

• To know the Omani opinions about the actions undertaken by the authorities concerned with traffic safety.

The survey targeted citizens and residents in the Sultanate who are at the age of 18 years or more. The sample size of 3,000 person (minimum) of the different governorates of the Sultanate, and this number allows to attain most estimates of the desired ratios from this survey on the overall level of the Sultanate and the level of the governorates within the margin of error does not exceed 3%.  

The weights  are used so that the sample properties in term of demographic following variables: the governorates sex , nationality (citizen/expatriate) , educational level ( less than secondary , secondary , higher secondary) , and age ( less than 30 years , 30-49 and 50 years and over ) with distribution of the Omani society , according to 2014 estimates .

The data of traffic safety poll collect through phone calls using landline and mobile phone. This method is reliable because it saves time, effort, and cost of data collection. Computer assisted telephonic interview (CATI) is an appropriate method for the survey subject because of the ease and limited number of questions. The questionnaire is available in English for opinions of residents who do not speak Arabic.

The opinion polls shall be conducted yearly, in order to monitor the change in the indices values.

• To know the reasons as to why Omanis prefer private education
• To know availability and accessibility of private education across the Sultanate and its academic standards.
• To measure the public’s level of satisfaction with building quality and facilities provided to the students, apart from an assessment of the tuition fees charged.
• The evaluate the extent and effectiveness of parent-teacher interactions .

The survey will focus on two segments: schools and higher education institutions, including colleges and universities.

In the first category, as many as 1,200 parents of private school students will be surveyed, while at least 1200 students aged 18 years and above pursuing higher education will be covered in the second segment.

The survey will use e-mails and telephones (both fixed-line and mobile phones) as tools to help collect data quickly.The survey questionnaire has been framed to suit the communication style of e-mails and telephones, in terms of ease of response, as well as the number and sequence of questions.

 

The opinion poll about the youth values aims at developing and measuring a set of social indicators related to the youth values and attitudes towards several issues, such as education, work, usage of tools of social communication and how far they believe in the importance of the religious values in preserving the close ties of family and society.

The opinion poll data were collected during the period 23 -29 December 2014 by interview on phone (standing and mobile) according to an electronic questionnaire

The size of the sample amounted to 1243 Omani citizens from the youth category 18029, and covered all governorates of the Sultanate and different educational levels and age groups.

The opinion poll was executed in corporation with the National Center for Statistics & Information and The Research Center.

he opinion poll about the Omani citizen's practice of sports aims at measuring: 1. The degree of importance of practicing sports for the Omanis . 2. The degree of regularity of practicing different sporting activities . 3. Availability of necessary sporting clubs, institutions and facilities in Governorates and States . 4. Reasons of non-practice of sporting activities by those who do not practice 5. Bearing of practicing sports on the psychological state and contentment of people with their lives, in general.

The data of the opinion poll were collected during the period 8-12 March 2015 by phone interviews, both standing telephone and mobile telephone.

The sample size amounted to 1694 Omani citizens at the age group (18 years) and above from all governorates of the Sultanate, different educational levels and age groups, male and female.

The Index of Consumer Sentiment is one of important indices for the economic activity performance. It aims to measure the extent of the citizen's satisfaction of the current economic situations, such as inflation, job opportunities, investment ways, status of economic policies, costs of living..etc. And also the extent of optimism with respect to the development of such situations in the short term (one year period). The index of consumer sentiment significance Is attributed to the role of the consumer behavior- that is based on his expectations – regarding spending in its various aspects in determining the volume and trend of the markets movement, as well as the extent of their merchantability. When citizens tend to spend more money, this means the increase in demand for various commodities and services. This motivates to increase the volume/number of productive units to meet that demand. And such increases the status of economic prosperity in the society. Therefore, the index of consumer sentiment is deemed a future conception of the economic growth direction. The index significance multiplies when it is computed, and its change monitored periodically. The index of consumer sentiment in the Sultanate of Oman has been computed by following the same methodology, used for computing, which has been developed at the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, USA. It is the methodology used in many of the world countries, which provides the possibility of international comparison of the index values. The general index of consumer sentiment is computed pursuant to this methodology, as a simple computation average of three sub-indices, which are: 1. Index of the current economic situations. 2. Index of the family income level. 3. Index of the Consumer expectations. The value of the general index of consumer sentiment ( as well as the values of sub-indices) ranges between zero and 200, where it takes the zero value in the case of utter pessimism and dissatisfaction; the value 200 in the case of optimism and full satisfaction; and the 100 value in the case of neutrality.

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Preponderance weights in the sample are used whereas the sample distribution fits according to the following variables: the province, sex, educational level (lower than secondary, secondary, higher than secondary), and the age groups ( less than 30 years, 30-49 and 50 years and above), coupled with distributing them as per the estimations of 2014.

The data pertaining to the Omani consumer sentiment opinion polls, through telephone calls, and such by busing the fixed phone and mobile phone in equal percentages. This method is characterized with saving time, effort and cost of data collection, which affords conducting the opinion polls periodically. The technique of phone calls is suitable for the opinion polls topic and the limited number of questions in the form. Periodical Data Collection: The opinion polls shall be conducted quarterly, in order to monitor the change in the indices values.

The opinion polls shall be conducted quarterly, in order to monitor the change in the indices values.

The attached questionnaire used for data collection has been designed to fit the technique of phone calls, with respect to the simplicity, number and the questions series.

• Index of the family income level has been computed based on two questions: _ Do you believe that the financial status of you and your family in the present time better, or worse, or as it is, compared with last Year? _ Are your, and those of your family, financial circumstances at present are suitable , or unsuitable for purchasing home appliances, a car, or similar. • Index of the current economic situation has been computed based on two questions: _ Do you believe that the economic status in the Sultanate of Oman is generally ( job opportunities, investments, production and living conditions ) is better, worse, or as it is, compared with last year? _ With respect to the job opportunities at the present, do you believe, generally, that they are largely available, or available to some extent, or not available? • Index of Consumer Expectations: has been computed based on three questions: _ During a year as from now, do you believe that your, and your family's, economic status will be better, worse, or as it is now? _ During a year as from now, do you believe that the economic situations ( job opportunities, investments, production and living conditions) will, generally, be better, worse, or as they are now? _ During the next year, and compared to the current situation, do you, generally, believe that the job opportunities will me more, as they are, or less? • Computing the index of each question: For each question within the three previous groups of questions, the percentages of optimistic and pessimistic responses to the total of responses have been computed, after discarding the neutral and unspecific responses, then computing the difference between the two percentages, and adding 100 points to that difference. Thus the index of each question between zero ( when all responses are pessimistic), and 200 ( when all answers are optimistic). The index of the question takes the value 100 ( neutrality level ) when the pessimistic and optimistic responses are equal. • Computing the sub-indices: Each sub-index has been computed as a simple computation average for the indices of the questions being used for its computation. The sub-index value ranges between zero and 200 also. • Computing the general index of consumer sentiment: The general index of consumer sentiment has been computed as a simple computation average for the three subs-indices. The general index value also ranges between zero and 200.

The Media plays an important role in forming the awareness of citizens & their attitude towards the different social, political, & cultural issues. The importance & extent of the effect of this role increases day after day with the remarkable technological advancement in the means of contact & communication. The works carried out by the Media are various, including news & events broadcast, education & culturing, opinion/trends forming & control upon governmental & non-governmental authorities in addition to the role of entertainment, advertizing & promotion. To carry out its culturing & awareness-raising role, the Media needs creditability & the trust of its public. Otherwise, it may very well loose the objective of its existence. On the other hand, all the officials & different institutions, governmental or otherwise, are interested in determining the channels of contact that have creditability & trust so that they can use them in establishing successful contact with the public & make sure of accessing the messages of the Media effectively. Hence, the interest of the (poll about Omani people’s trust in the media) in periodically measuring the trust enjoyed by the different means of the Media: the traditional ones (like TV, radio, & printed newspapers) or the modern, (like the tools & the different social contact websites on the www). The poll is also interested in continuously monitoring the changes taking place at the levels of such trust.

Following is the summary of the main objectives of polling the opinions of Omani people about their trust in the Media: • Development of a general indicator of the extent of Omani people’s trust in the Media in such a general way that allows international comparison; • Development of some branch indicators of the extent of trust in each single means of the Media (TV, radio & printed newspapers) & the modern (like the different websites of social contact) respectively. • To determine the extent of the spread of modern Media, how competitive it is compared to traditional Media means, the frequency with which the different means of the Media are used & the favorite times to use each single means of the Media; • To determine the trusted sources in the different means of Media: the main TV & radio channels, more creditable printed newspapers, news sites & the more trusted social contact websites.

. Methodology: 1. Sample: The sample is of the volume of 1100 Omani citizens of the age categories of 18 & more, distributed evenly on all the governorates of the Sultanate (11 governorates). This particular number of people allows getting estimations of the most targeted percentages in the Poll at the total level of the Sultanate within a margin of error not exceeding 3%. 2. Outweighing Weights: Outweighing weights are to be used by sample, whereas the distribution of the sample matches according to the following variables: governorate, gender, educational level (less than secondary school, secondary/above medium level, university or above level), & the age categories of (less than 30, 30-49, 50 or more), along with distributing them over Omani community according to the estimations of 2013. 3. Style of Data Collection: The poll about Omani people’s trust in the media shall collect the required data using fixed & mobile phones in equal percentages. This method has the merit of saving time, effort, & data-collection & of allowing the possibility of periodically carrying out the poll. Telephone communication style is also suitable for the subject of the poll & for the limited number of questions in the form; further, many countries use it worldwide to measure the trust in the media. Gallop Institute, for instance, has been using this telephone style in its poll about the trust of Americans in the Media since 1979. 4. Method of Measuring & Counting the Indicators: This poll shall use the same methodology used by Gallop Institute in counting the main index of trust in the Media & in counting branch index of trust in each single means of the Media, respectively. This is the same methodology used in many of the world’s countries, allowing the possibility of comparing the counted index values in the Sultanate with the international ones. Counting the main index of trust in the Media depends on one question at the start of the questionnaire: what is your estimation of the means of Media, like TV, radio & newspapers – about the total news covering, accuracy, & neutrality? (Very good-good, medium/neutral-weak-very week-not sure/don’t know). The index of trust in Omni TV can be counted by collecting both percentages of people responding with (very good) or with (good) to the relative question. Thus, the poll may count indexes of trust in Omani radio channels, news sites on the internet & social contact websites. .5 The Periodical Collection of Data : There is a suggestion to make the first cycle of the poll in the middle of December 2014 & repeat it annually to follow up the change in values of counted indexes. Most countries of the world follow this same style in similar polls. 5. Questionnaire: The design of the attached questionnaire, to use for data collection, is suitable for the style of telephone contact as far as the ease, number, & sequence of the questions are concerned. The questionnaire’s form has four main sections in addition to the introduction & a special section for the identification & personal data of the responding party. • The introduction: The introduction is to say thank you to the participating party, acquainting him/her with the authority carrying out the poll & to assure him/her of the total confidentiality of the presented personal data. • First Section – identifying & personal data: this section includes some personal data about the responding party , gender, age, governorate of residence, educational qualifications, employment status in addition to some data concerning the economic level such as the average monthly spending. • Second Section- TV & radio: the extent of trust in Omani TV/radio as a source of news, times of watching, type of favorite programs in addition to the most favorite TV/radio channels. • Third Section- Newspapers & Magazines: the extent of trust in printed newspapers or newspapers on websites as a source of news, frequency of reading, type of favorite subjects in addition to the most favorite newspapers & favorite news sites. • Fourth Section – Social contact & information means: the most important tools, most favorite sites, times & frequency of use, extent of trust in the means of social media as a source of news.

Poll Omanis are about confidence in the media on a sample size of 1100 Omani citizen action, in the age group 18 years and over, distributed proportionately to all governorates of the Sultanate (11 provinces). This allows the number to obtain estimates of the ratios to be most appreciated in the survey on the overall level of the Sultanate within the limits of error does not exceed 3% margin.