April 2017

This will be my last column as AAPOR’s President and it’s been a terrific year for our organization.  Here are some of the highlights from my vantage point.

The AAPOR 2017-2018 Executive Council election closed on March 31 and approximately 33 percent of eligible AAPOR members voted. Please join me in thanking all of our colleagues who stood for election, and in congratulating our new Executive Council members whose terms begin at the upcoming 72nd Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana:

Planning continues in high gear for the 2017 AAPOR Conference. We’re excited to showcase the latest, cutting-edge research on survey and other data collection methods as well as insightful findings from public opinion researchers on pressing issues. An unprecedented number of sessions focus on the election and polling, ensuring the conference will stand at the forefront of scholarship and debate on the 2016 vote and the state of the union.

Looking for a fun and unique way to get more involved at the annual AAPOR conference? Do you like brainstorming new and innovative research methodologies? Are you interested in networking with senior AAPOR members? Then AAPOR's ResearchHack 3.0 is for you!

Come see AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative at the 2017 Conference! We will be having a booth in the exhibitor hall with exciting “transparent” giveaways and a panel committed to issues of disclosure and transparency.

The AAPOR Executive Council enthusiastically and unanimously adopted the final report and implementation plan on diversity at its March 23 meeting.  
 
The report reaffirms and deepens AAPOR’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. The implementation plan outlines an ambitious seven-point strategy to increase diversity within the organization and establishes timelines for accomplishing those goals. Taken together, the steps detailed in the plan mark a major step forward in the organization’s efforts to represent all members of the AAPOR community.

Robert Santos described himself in his 2014 Presidential Address as “a mathematical statistician who was lured into the world of survey sampling, project management, survey operations, and social science research.” As chief methodologist at the Urban Institute, he now conducts sociopolitical analysis with pragmatism, passion and scientific rigor. An expert in quantitative and qualitative studies, he has a deep understanding of both the statistical issues and scientific purpose of his research.

​Jaki McCarthy is a senior survey methodologist in the Methodology Division at the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.  She has worked in a number of areas including questionnaire development and testing, data quality evaluation and research, data collection methods, survey participation and nonresponse.  But with an academic background in psychology, she is most interested in the impact of people on surveys and statistics.

In the third year since re-initiating our chapter, the New England AAPOR executive council is thrilled to report an engaged and growing membership.

Greetings to all of the Student and Early Career (SEC) AAPOR members and conference attendees. We are excited to be getting closer to this year’s conference in New Orleans, Louisiana! As we approach the big event there are some important events and information we want you to know about.