December 2016

Public opinion polling and survey research receive a lot of scrutiny during presidential election years, and this year was no exception.  In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, it looked as though the polls had done pretty badly this year.  However as the popular vote continues to roll in, the national polls are looking better and better.  We are all looking forward to the work of the Ad‐Hoc Committee on 2016 Election Polling for a final assessment of how the polls did this time.  In the meantime, we should take this opportunity to reflect on why these polls are done in the first place. 

The 2017 AAPOR Conference is already breaking records!

This year we received a record number of proposals during the submission process. The sheer volume coupled with a shortened review window set the stage for what appeared an impossible task for our volunteer reviewers. However, in true AAPOR fashion, our members turned out in record number (230 to be exact!) to offer their evaluations of the many panels, papers, methodological briefs, and poster submissions we received. We express our sincere thanks to those who participated in this invaluable task. Immediately following the review period, a small group convened in Madison, WI for two days to select abstracts, group them in cohesive sessions, and track them by topic, day, and time. This was an intense job, requiring hours of focused concentration, and sharp eyes. Thanks to Trent Buskirk for supplying us with reading and magnifying glasses, and to the entire group – Peyton Craighill, Heidi Diederich, Nora Cate Schaeffer, Mandy Sha, John Stevenson, Adam Thocher, and Vince Welch – for their enormous contributions in shaping the upcoming AAPOR program.

It has been two years since AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative began accepting members in fall 2014. Now with more than 80 members, the TI is focusing on continuing our outreach for new members, conducting current members’ biennial reviews, presenting research at conferences, and educating the public and the survey community on the importance of transparency and disclosure. As part of our continued outreach, we would like to focus on one of our charter members – National Research Center – who joined the TI in January 2015. 

The annual AAPOR Membership Drive is in full swing! Thank you to those of you who have renewed your membership already. If you have not yet had the chance to renew, please do so today. You can renew online at: https://register.aapor.org/. This will allow you to continue to enjoy your membership so you can continue to enjoy all of the benefits of AAPOR membership, such as: 

MAPOR had an amazing and incredibly busy 41^st year!  We just completed our Annual Conference on November 18 and 19, 2016.  The conference featured 201 attendees, a Keynote Address from Scott Keeter of the Pew Research Center, a short course from Scott Crawford, and a Pedagogy Hour led by Sherry Emery of NORC.  The conference also included two panels, our second Respondent-Interviewer Workgroup, and submissions from 43 different institutions (highlighting that the Midwest is definitely a state of mind!).

When it comes to AAPOR, Eleanor Singer has pretty much done it all.  She served on Council five times (which may be a record!)—twice as Councilor-at-Large, once as Conference Chair, once as Standards Chair, and as President in 1987-1988.  She also edited Public Opinion Quarterly for 11 years, from 1975-1986.  (In that role, she accepted my first POQ paper, with Wade Smith.  I’ll always be grateful to her for that.)  Before that, she served as the journal’s managing editor.   She also edited a special issue of POQ on nonresponse bias in household surveys in 2006.  No one has done as much for Public Opinion Quarterly as Eleanor has.