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World Association for Public Opinion Research

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World Association for Public Opinion Research
AbbreviationWAPOR
Formation1947; 77 years ago (1947)
TypeProfessional association
HeadquartersLincoln, Nebraska, USA
Membership
> 400
Robert Chung
Websitewapor.org

The World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) is an international professional association of researchers in the field of survey research. It is a member organization of the International Science Council.[1]

History[edit]

Established in 1947 at the Second International Conference on Public Opinion Research held in Williamstown, Massachusetts[2][3] as the World Congress on Public Opinion Research, the association acquired its current name in 1948, at the Third International Conference on Public Opinion Research.[4] In 1953, it became the sole nongovernment consultant organization to UNESCO in the field of polling.[2]

Its current president is Robert Chung (Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, in Hong Kong) with Immediate Past President Timothy P. Johnson (University of Illinois Chicago) and a Council of officers[5] Among the former presidents of WAPOR are Juan Linz, Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Robert Worcester, Seymour Martin Lipset, and Michael Traugutt.[6]

Membership[edit]

Over time, WAPOR's membership has grown and become more international. In 1956, roughly a decade after its founding, the association had 158 members from about 20 countries;[2] by 1962, these figures had risen to approximately 200 and more than 30, respectively.[7] In 1970, WAPOR had more than 300 members from 41 countries.[8]

As of 2021, the association has approximately 500 members from research institutes and universities in over 60 countries on six continents.[9] On February 8, 2011, WAPOR Latinoamérica became the first recognized chapter, followed by WAPOR Asia Pacific (2016), WAPOR West Asia and North Africa (WANA) (2018), and WAPOR Sub-Saharan Africa (2022).[10]

Activities[edit]

WAPOR sponsors the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, a social science journal published by Oxford University Press.[11]

Annual conference are held in a three-year cycle: with American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) in North America (Toronto 2019), in connection with either ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) or ESRA in Europe (Lisbon 2017), and in the third year somewhere else (Morocco 2018). This arrangement permits WAPOR members to meet with academic, commercial, and government researchers from the main centers of survey research around the globe. The annual conferences are held in different countries each year, and the 2020 and 2021 annual conferences were held virtually due to the pandemic.[12] AAPOR and ESOMAR are considered "allied associations."[13] In 2021, WAPOR published a joint task force report with AAPOR on quality in comparative surveys.[14]

Since 1981, WAPOR offers the Helen Dinerman Award – created to honour sociologist Helen Dinerman – to individuals who have made "significant contributions to survey research methodology".[15] Prior recipients include social scientists Philip Converse, Louis Guttman,[16] Roger Jowell,[17] Elihu Katz,[18] Juan Linz, Seymour Martin Lipset,[19] Robert K. Merton,[20] Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann,[21][22] Sidney Verba,[23] Robert Worcester, and Daniel Yankelovich.[24]

Influence[edit]

Richard Morin, former polling director of The Washington Post, described WAPOR as "the leading professional association of pollsters working outside the United States".[25] Herbert Weisberg, a political scientist at Ohio State University and former president of the Midwest Political Science Association,[26] further credited WAPOR with contributing to the internationalization, and thereby the professionalization, of the field of survey research.[27]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "International Social Science Council". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Dodd, Stuart C. (Spring 1957). "The World Association for Public Opinion Research". Public Opinion Quarterly. 21 (1): 179–84. doi:10.1086/266698. JSTOR 2746801.
  3. ^ Hart, Clyde W. & Don Cahalan (Spring 1957). "The Development of AAPOR". Public Opinion Quarterly. 21 (1): 165–73. doi:10.1086/266696. JSTOR 2746799.
  4. ^ Rokkan, Stein (1979). A Quarter Century of International Social Science: Papers and Reports on Developments, 1952-1977. Concept. p. 279. ISBN 9780391019300. OCLC 7575815. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  5. ^ "Executive Council". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  6. ^ "History". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  7. ^ Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 22. Americana Corporation. 1965. p. 774. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  8. ^ Preece, Warren (1974). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. p. 214. ISBN 0-85229-290-2. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  9. ^ "Membership Information". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  10. ^ "WAPOR Regional Chapters". Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  11. ^ "Oxford Journals: Social Sciences – Int. Journal of Public Opinion Research". Oxford Journals. 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
  12. ^ "Annual Conferences". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  13. ^ WAPOR homepage (accessed 26 December 2012)
  14. ^ "AAPOR/WAPOR Task Force Report on Quality in Comparative Surveys". Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  15. ^ "Awards and Prizes". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  16. ^ "Louis Guttman". World of Sociology. Thomson Gale. 2005–2006. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  17. ^ "Annual Research Report, 2005-2006" (PDF). Department of Sociology, City University London. p. 9. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  18. ^ Dennis, Everette E. (1996). American Communication Research: The Remembered History. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-8058-1744-7. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  19. ^ "Hoover Senior Fellow Seymour Martin Lipset Dies". Business Wire. 2007-01-03.
  20. ^ Dillman, Don A. "Helen Dinerman and the Connecting of Science with Practice1" (PDF). Newsletter (Second Quarter 2006). World Association for Public Opinion Research: 7–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  21. ^ Salmon, Charles T. & Chi-Yung Moh (1994). "The Spiral of Silence: Linking Individual and Society Through Communication". In J. David Kennamer (ed.). Public Opinion, The Press, and Public Policy. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-275-95097-2. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  22. ^ Viswanath, K. (1996). "Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916– )". In Nancy Signorielli (ed.). Women in Communication: A Biographical Sourcebook. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-313-29164-7. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  23. ^ "2004 Dinerman Award Winner: Dr. Sidney Verba" (PDF). Newsletter (Second Quarter 2004). World Association for Public Opinion Research: 4–5. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  24. ^ "Daniel Yankelovich". Who's Who at Public Agenda?. Public Agenda. Archived from the original on 2007-07-15. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  25. ^ Morin, Richard (1998-01-19). "Crackdown on Pollsters". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  26. ^ "Dr. Herbert F. Weisberg". OSU:pro. Ohio State University. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  27. ^ Weisberg, Herbert F. (2005). The Total Survey Error Approach: A Guide to the New Science of Survey Research. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-226-89127-9. Retrieved 2007-11-03.

External links[edit]

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