The Lion Foundation is one of New Zealand’s biggest poker machine trusts, awarding millions of dollars to community groups every year. Recently, the organization was featured in a study by students of the MBA Programme at Massey University. The findings were favourable, but it has recently been revealed that the project was not necessarily reputable.
On the Lion Foundation’s website, the study is touted as ‘an independent evaluation by a cohort of their MBA programme on the impact of our funding’. However, this statement has been proven false, as it was not an official peer-reviewed study. It was actually an assignment carried out for a 30-credit grade.
According to the Lion Foundation, the study offered assurance that the organization provides financial support to community groups in areas that need help the most. However, the study only included only a small sample size that was insufficient for providing an entirely accurate evaluation of the foundation’s work.
The group only examined 7% of the Lion Foundation’s grant recipients, and it did not take into consideration those that had not received funding. The project was carried out to a high standard for university students, but that does not mean it is a reputable source to extol The Lion Foundation.
In order for this type of research to be cited by the Lion Foundation, it would need to be carried out by accredited researchers and have undergone a review. "Lion is essentially saying 'because this was done at Massey it must be good'," says Dr Vivienne Ivory of the Department of Health for Otago University.
"But until you can say it has been awarded, has been through some sort of review process, then it's just a report that you or I can write." The Lion Foundation denies that it was trying to mislead readers. According to Chairman Simon Whyte, the organization published the report to balance out the debate about the impacts of poker machines on the community.
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