A majority (51%) feel anxious when they have to make a phone call to a person they do not know.
Vancouver, BC [April 15, 2022] – Many Canadians are not particularly confident about their ability to address an audience publicly, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, 44% of Canadians say they would have no problem giving a speech in front of other people. More than half (52%) disagree with this assessment.
Across the country, 51% of Canadians say they feel anxious when they have to make a phone call to a person they do not know—a proportion that rises to 57% among women and 61% among Canadians aged 18-to-34.
Canadians are divided when pondering text messages and emails, with 46% finding this form of communication impersonal and 47% disagreeing with this point of view.
“A majority of Canadians aged 55 and over (55%) brand electronic communications as impersonal,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The proportion is lower among their counterparts aged 35-to-54 (46%) and aged 18-to-34 (36%).”
The survey asked Canadians about their preferred mode of communication for various tasks. More than four-in-five Canadians (82%) say they would end a relationship with someone in person. Only 7% of Canadians would break up by sending a text message, including 11% of those aged 18-to-34.
Almost three-in-four Canadians (73%) say they would prefer to quit a job in person, but 15% would do so by sending an email, including 18% of women and 24% of Canadians aged 18-to-34.
Canadians are evenly divided on the best way to order food delivery to their home, with identical proportions choosing to make a phone call (39%) or use an app (also 39%).
While a majority of Canadians aged 18-to-34 (53%) would rely on an app to manage food delivery, the proportion drops slightly to 47% among those aged 35-to-54 and falls to 20% among those aged 55 and over.
Canadians who live in Alberta (50%) and Ontario (49%) are more likely to prefer to use an app to order food delivery than their counterparts in British Columbia (44%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (43%), Quebec (26%) and Atlantic Canada (18%).
More than a third of Canadians (37%) say they would make a phone call if they had to ask a question to their bank, while a smaller proportion (32%) would visit in person. Significantly fewer Canadians prefer an email (15%), an app (11%) or a text message (5%) for this particular task.
If Canadians had to ask a question to their municipality or City Hall, almost two-in-five (39%) would send an email, while one third (33%) would place a phone call and one-in-five (20%) would schedule a meeting in person.
Methodology: Results are based on an online study conducted from April 1 to April 3, 2022, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490 [e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca