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WAPOR 73rd Annual Conference and WAPOR LATAM 9th Congress
6-9 October 2020 ● Salamanca, Spain
Call for Proposals
Submission Deadline: Friday, 10 January 2020

Submit Proposal

The World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) will hold its 73rd Annual Conference together with the WAPOR Latin American (LATAM) Congress on 6-9 October 2020 in Salamanca, Spain. The WAPOR conference will convene before and overlap with the 9th LATAM Congress. The conference committee welcomes proposals on topics related to public opinion broadly, especially those related to the conference theme.

Conference Theme: Public Opinion and Survey Research in Changing Times

Effective public policy, informed by public opinion research, is an inevitable part of Global Sustainable Development Programs that are shared and targeted by many countries. The economic and social development of any society is not possible without careful monitoring of the key indicators which are often estimated based on national surveys. This year, WAPOR highlights the role and application of survey research in monitoring public opinion in a changing environment. In doing so, we recognize the ongoing revolution in survey data analysis that has been prompted by the development of machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data availability. Information security, new approaches to data collection, and progress in online survey research, stimulate both academics and practitioners to explore new approaches to integrating these resources into their assessment of public opinion.

WAPOR welcomes proposal submissions that deal with these and related issues, in one of four conference formats including: panels, round-table sessions, research papers and posters. The round tables 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 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, including the joint WAPOR/LATAM sessions on “Public Opinion and Survey Research,” should be submitted electronically by 10 January 2020. Only proposals submitted through WAPOR’s website will be considered.

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

  • Research Papers in oral 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 orally 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 at the poster session.

  • Panel Proposals typically include four or four to 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 panel:

    1. A bit of planning. The panel organizer and participants should touch base before submission time and agree on the panel topic and contributions from each speaker.

    2. The organizer submits an abstract for the entire panel. The panel organizer needs to submit an abstract via the submission system. The organizer will be asked for a title, panel description, author names and emails. Note: Organizers who themselves plan to present in the panel need to submit twice (first the panel and later their personal paper). An Abstract ID will be provided to the organizer, who must then share this with the panel presenters prior to their paper submission.

    3. Each panel participant submits an abstract as a paper. Individual panel presenters each need to submit an abstract for their presentation. Select “Paper as part of a panel” as the submission type. This will be used to determine a possible (not guaranteed) place on the program if the pre-arranged panel is not accepted. The abstract ID (provided by the panel organizer) must be entered in order to submit your paper.

    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.

  • Round Table Sessions will take place at the WAPOR/LATAM Conference, containing a circle of 20 chairs and a video conference facility for video-recording and broadcasting the roundtable discussion online, ideal for shorter contributions from 5-7 speakers followed by open discussion engaging all those attending. This room will be scheduled in parallel with other sessions, with similar overall length. Abstracts for round table sessions should include the organizer/moderator, the specific theme and subjects to be discussed, names and affiliations of invited discussants, and desired outcomes.

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 March 2020.