Call for Proposals
Submission Deadline: May 24, 2021 

The World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) will hold its 74th Annual Conference ONLINE due to global travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference dates are November 2-6, 2021. The online conference timing will be set up as early morning in the US and Latin America when it is afternoon in Europe and evening in Asia.

Submit Proposal

Not all public opinion research is welcomed during times of crises. How can our research be most effectively communicated both to leaders and to citizens when facing public health emergencies? What role should public opinion research play in societies facing political or economic turmoil? Our 2021 conference seeks to address these questions.

WAPOR welcomes proposal submissions that deal with these and related issues, in one of three conference formats including: preorganized panels, research papers and posters. Preorganized panels will be broadcast live via online channels.

Relevant submissions that focus on all aspects of public opinion and survey research are encouraged. These topics include, but are not restricted to:

• Public opinion in times of crisis
• Fake media and public opinion
• Public opinion and survey research
• Survey research application
• Public opinion and policymaking
• Panel, longitudinal and national monitoring surveys in policymaking
• New technologies and national surveys: challenges in the changing times
• New sources of information on public opinion and the use of social media
• Political behavior, participation, and culture in survey research
• Methodological challenges and improvements in the areas of sampling, measurement, survey design and survey response or non-response
• Challenges of comparative research and international survey projects
• Cross-cultural concerns in data collection and measurement issues
• News, media, journalism, and public opinion
• Qualitative research in changing times
• Big data, sentiment analysis and machine learning
• Digitalization of societies and usage of new sources of information in survey research
• Data visualization, new technologies and online surveys
• Best practices for stakeholder research and expert surveys

Submission Process

Proposals for the conference should be submitted electronically via the conference platform by May 24, 2021. Only proposals submitted through conference platform will be considered. 

Abstracts should not exceed 300 words. All submissions must be in English, and all accepted works are to be presented in English. WAPOR will accept proposals for one of three conference formats:

• Research Papers or Poster format generally include a description of the research project with specific research questions or hypotheses, methods and results, if available at the time of submission.

  Most individual research papers will be presented in a regular session format. We will also have a poster session, in order to serve participants who prefer this format. The submission system will ask submitters to indicate whether they prefer to give an oral presentation or present their work as part of the poster session.

• Pre-organized Panel Proposals typically include four or five presentations around a common theme. All submissions, including those made as part of a pre-arranged panel, will be required to submit individual abstracts. This will allow the program committee to review the individual submissions and consider these submissions for alternate placement in the program if the pre-arranged panel is not accepted. Here are the steps for submitting a pre-organized panel:

• • Organize your panel. The panel organizer and participants should touch base before submission time and agree on the panel topic and contributions from each speaker.
  • The organizer submits an abstract for the entire panel. The panel organizer will list their own name and other required information.
  • Add one panelist for EACH of the panel papers. The system requires the organizer to add one panelist for each of the papers for the panel by adding ONE name and email for EACH paper in the table called “Additional Panelists.” The panelists will be the contact person for their paper. Note: Organizers who themselves plan to present their research in the panel need to submit twice: first submit the panel (including adding themselves as a panelist) and then submit their own research paper. Once you have clicked “Save and Finalize,” each panelist will receive an email with the Application ID and information about how to submit their proposal.
  • Each panel participant submits an abstract as a “Paper as part of a panel.” Individual panel presenters each need to submit an abstract for their presentation. Select “Paper as part of a panel” as the submission type and use the Application ID in the confirmation email. Your submission will be used to determine a possible (not guaranteed) place on the program if the pre-arranged panel is not accepted.

In order for a panel to be accepted, at least three of the individual papers must be accepted. If not, accepted proposals may be assigned to a different session. Please contact us at renae@wapor.org if you have any questions about this, or any, submission type.

All submitters should receive a system-generated email confirmation of their submission within 24 hours. If this confirmation does not arrive, submitters should log back on to the site to verify that their proposal was submitted correctly in the system. All submitters will be notified of the conference committee’s decision at the beginning of August 2021.

Conference Registration Pricing

*All non-member registrations INCLUDE a membership for 2022.