July 2020

First, thank you to everyone who made AAPOR’s virtual conference a success. We had 940 registered attendees, which far exceeded our expectations. While it was a disappointment to not be able to meet in person as AAPOR has done for each of the 74 previous years, it was gratifying to see so many people participate in AAPOR’s first ever virtual conference.

We had 940 registrants for the conference, including almost 7000 total logins to the desktop interface, about 450 users of the mobile app, and over 1,000,000 downloads of slides on the mobile app! According to paradata from the desktop version, the most viewed titles were the all-attendee kickoff session on public opinion and COVID-19, the Morris Hansen lecture by Roger Tourangeau, and the presidential address by President Nora Cate Schaeffer. We had participants from all over the US and all over the world, with the most common countries for participants outside the US being Canada and Germany.

​Thanks to the volunteers who served on the Webinar and Short Course Subcommittees this past year, AAPOR members were able to enjoy some great learning opportunities.  If you have an idea for a webinar or short course topic you’d like to see offered, please reach out to Doug Currivan (Webinar Subcommittee Chair) or Brady West (Short Course Subcommittee Chair) with your suggestions. If you’re interested in submitting a proposal to be a presenter, the online submission forms will be available later this summer.

The Standards Committee will be busy this summer working on a revised conduct policy and a revised code of professional ethics and practices.

The Transparency Initiative is pleased to report that it is closing in on 100 members as we enter our seventh year! New applications to the TI continue to arrive on a consistent basis, and those on the committee work hard to review new applicants as well as perform biennial evaluations. The commitment to methodological transparency shines in the work of the committee and TI members who approach their work from across the research spectrum. Committee members bring to the TI their experience in the worlds of non-profit and commercial research, as well as from government and academic settings. As research methodologies continue to evolve, the TI remains vigilant in ensuring that rigor and transparency defines the public face of its members regardless of mode or sampling frame.

A member of AAPOR for 16 years, René Bautista is a Senior Research Scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago, where he has worked since 2010, and recently became the Director of the General Social Survey (GSS). He earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the Department of Survey Research and Methodology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, after earning a bachelor’s in Political Science from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico. This year, he completed his term as Chair for the AAPOR Standards Committee (part of the Executive Council), and has one year left on his term as Associate Editor for Public Opinion Quarterly.

During 2020, we chose to continue with the theme of #SAPORSpeaks across all events and communications. To this end, we started the year with several goals. First, increasing student membership and engagement. Second, continuing to engage our current membership through networking and social events. Third, revamping the SAPOR website. We continue to strive to make progress on our goals despite the complications brought about by COVID-19, including hosting two virtual happy hours for our members on Zoom and helping coordinate the AAPOR All-Chapter Social Event during the Virtual AAPOR Conference. Anything we are unable to fully accomplish this year will likely carry forward into future goals to make our organization even stronger.