Organization:American Association for Public Opinion Research

The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) is a professional organization of more than 2,000 public opinion and survey research professionals in the United States and from around the world, with members from academia, media, government, the non-profit sector and private industry. AAPOR publishes three academic journals: Public Opinion Quarterly, Survey Practice and the Journal for Survey Statistics and Methodology. It holds an annual research conference and maintains a "Code of Professional Ethics and Practices", for survey research which all members agree to follow. The association's founders include pioneering pollsters Archibald Crossley, George Gallup, and Elmo Roper.

AAPOR's stated principle is that public opinion research is essential to a healthy democracy, providing information crucial to informed policy-making and giving voice to people's beliefs, attitudes and desires. Through its annual conference, standards and ethics codes and publications, AAPOR seeks to promote a better public understanding of the role of public opinion research in a democracy, as well as the sound and ethical conduct and use of public opinion research.

AAPOR Presidents from 1947 to the present

Standards and ethics

Promoting standards and ethics is central AAPOR's mission. The individuals who are members of AAPOR agree to observe the organization's Code of Professional Ethics and Practices that define and mandate the proper practice of public opinion and survey research with the appropriate use of research results. The Code is designed to express fundamental principles that apply to the conduct of research regardless of an individual's membership in AAPOR. Adherence to the principles and actions set out in the Code is possible for of all public opinion and survey researchers, whether they are AAPOR members or not.

Under the Code, practitioners of survey research are expected to conduct their research with care, taking all reasonable steps to assure the reliability and validity of the results and communicate their methods and findings accurately with appropriate detail. The AAPOR code details the standards for dealing with research participants and identifiable information. And it indicates the need to provide clients with all information regarding possible research limitations and the need for disclosure.

The latest revision was approved in April 2021.

Transparency Initiative

In October 2014, AAPOR launched the Transparency Initiative (TI) to encourage research organizations to disclose their methodological procedures fully and rigorously when reporting survey-based findings. AAPOR established a set of principles for disclosure and then invited organizations to apply to join the TI effort and be recognized for their promise to comply with the guidelines. Joining the TI does not imply any judgment about the quality or rigor of the methods being disclosed. The purpose of TI is to promote understanding of the relationship between methodology and survey quality, increase adherence to AAPOR's Code of Professional Ethics and Practices and enable members of the media and the public to evaluate survey quality. As of 2023, there are 98 members.

Membership

As an organization, AAPOR primarily focuses on survey methodology and survey and public opinion research. AAPOR members work on everything from political polls, to government surveys, to academic experiments and studies. AAPOR members not only conduct survey research, but they also teach courses for universities, professional organizations, and/or within their place of employment.

Diversity Initiative

In 2016, AAPOR adopted a diversity initiative to help increase diversity within the organization as well as in the professional field. For example, affinity groups are supported. These are voluntary associations of AAPOR members around topics related to professional interests or personal affinities. In 2017, the cross-cultural and multilingual research affinity group became the first group formally recognized by AAPOR. In 2019, an article in AAPOR's e-journal Survey Practice provided examples of two women leaders' professional pathways and how AAPOR as a professional organization contributed to their development. In 2023, the W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship in Support of Diversity and Inclusion was launched as a joint project with the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University with a focus on graduates students who identify as a member of a racial or ethnic minority group that has been underrepresented in the field of polling research.

AAPOR Awards

Each year, AAPOR presents a portfolio of awards to recognize distinguished work in the profession, as well as to further the education of students and early career researchers; these awards are the highest honors given by the AAPOR.

• The Warren J. Mitofsky Innovators Award
• The Seymour Sudman Student Paper Competition
• The Burns "Bud" Roper Fellow Award
• The AAPOR Policy Impact Award
• The AAPOR Book Award
• The WAPOR/AAPOR Janet A. Harkness Student Paper Award
• The AAPOR Public Service Award
• The Student Conference Award
• The Student-Faculty Diversity Pipeline Awards
• The AAPOR Award (lifetime achievement)

AAPOR Lifetime Achievement Awardees from the present to 1955

Reports

As needed, AAPOR may commission a working group to address topical issues relating to the survey research industry. These working groups produce reports to introduce new methods, address methodological concerns or provide guidance on the application of specific research methods. Here are some of those Task Force Reports:

• June, 2021 - AAPOR/WAPOR Task Force Report on Quality in Comparative Surveys
• April, 2008 – AAPOR Cell Phone Task Force Report
• February 12, 2015 Task Force Report on Big Data
• September 8, 2014 – Current Knowledge and Considerations Regarding Survey Refusals
• May 30, 2014 – Social Media and Public Opinion Research: Report of the AAPOR Task Force on Emerging Technologies in Public Opinion Research
• May 12, 2014 – Mobile Technologies for Conducting, Augmenting and Potentially Replacing Surveys: Report of the AAPOR Task Force on Emerging Technologies in Public Opinion Research
• September 2, 2013 – Polling and Democracy: Report of the AAPOR Task Force on Public Opinion and Leadership
• May 17, 2013 – AAPOR Report on Non-Probability Sampling
• October 7, 2012 – AAPOR Statement on Understanding a "credibility interval"
• October 28, 2010 – AAPOR 2010 Cell Phone Task Force Report
• March 24, 2010 – AAPOR Opt In Online Panel Task Force Report
• May 16, 2009 – Report to the AAPOR Standards Committee on the status of Human Subjects Protection Training Requirements
• March 30, 2009 – An Evaluation of the Methodology of the 2008 Pre-Election Primary Polls: Report of ad hoc AAPOR Committee on the 2008 Presidential Primary Polling
• April, 2008 – AAPOR Cell Phone Task Force Report
• January 1, 2008 – Pre-Election Polling in New Hampshire: What Went Wrong?

Meetings

AAPOR holds an annual conference on public opinion and survey research and their methodologies and applications. According to AAPOR's history publication A Meeting Place and More, it holds a "central importance" at the organization. The 75th Anniversary conference in 2020 was the only conference that was planned as an in-person meeting and converted to a virtual meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AAPOR also sponsors short courses, webinars, and affinity group meetings. These events provide a platform for scholars and practitioners to exchange research, job opportunities and ideas with each other.

See also

• ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research)
• Survey methodology
• World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR)
• European Survey Research Association (ESRA)
• Insights Association, a merger of CASRO and MRA
• American Statistical Association