Letter from WAPOR President (November 2023)

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish) 简体中文 (Chinese (Simplified)) 繁體中文 (Chinese (Traditional))

Note: This document was translated from English into many different languages. In case of any discrepancy or inconsistency between the English version and any other translation, the English version shall always prevail.

With Salzburg two months behind us, we are again calling for papers, with these words from Seoul/Soul:

The Soul of Public Opinion Research: Liberty, Quality and Humanity… In Dubai we reviewed the world’s 75 years of public opinion research development after the last world war, and in Salzburg we discussed the challenges of technology on opinion research. It is time that we look back at the basic values of our profession and discuss how we can overcome all present-day challenges facing humankind without losing sight of our fundamental beliefs… As we head towards the mid-2020s, the world is again facing wars and many unprecedented global challenges, and we need to ask ourselves again and again how public opinion research can mitigate these global problems and crises… Seoul should be a stop for this soul-searching journey…Proposals for the conference should be submitted electronically by January 31, 2024.

I don’t need to stress the importance of our annual conferences again. Soon after our last conference, we witnessed a surge in the quality and quantity of our WAPORnet discussions. This has driven colleagues at all levels to work extremely hard to address members’ concerns, and I am glad to report to readers the following important developments arising from these discussions:

1) On members’ suggestion of building an archive to share conference presentations and topical international poll findings, like societies at war, we have engaged PARC to develop an open WAPOR Archive to (a) store our conference presentations, (b) facilitate the search and retrieval of conflict-area research, (c) document WAPOR reports, newsletters, WAPORnet discussions and the like, among many other features. The Archive is expected to be launched before 2024, accessible via our website. We thank our member Gary Langer who is also the President of PARC Enterprises LLC for coming to help, and I have invited Gary to write us a short piece to explain the concept. Here is a paraphrase of it, I will share the whole piece in our WAPORnet later:

• Gary: WAPOR members and others with an interest in global survey research will soon be able to search and retrieve a wide variety of WAPOR materials archived in the PARC system. These will include: Programs, papers, presentations, award citations and other records from annual conferences; Monthly compilations of postings to WAPORnet; Past WAPOR webinars on an array of topics, with links to video files; Summaries of recent conflict-area research, with links to source materials; WAPOR reports and documents including the Freedom to Publish Polls Reports, annual reports, presidential newsletters, WAPOR’s constitution and code of ethics, and records of regional and thematic conferences. The PARC system will provide full-text search functionality with instant retrieval of relevant materials. Looking for presentations, posting or other materials in Arabic, Chinese, Swahili or another language? WAPOR/PARC will take you to it directly.

2) Another important topic discussed recently is whether or not our WAPORnet should be regulated. After balancing the pros and cons, our Executive Council has tentatively decided not to moderate all listserv discussions, but has issued the following guidelines to members to promote self-discipline and mutual respect:

• Purpose: WAPORnet is intended as an open, unmoderated public forum for members to freely discuss important substantive and methodological topics related to the field of public opinion research. Newsworthy information regarding WAPOR members, such as new appointments, public recognition or awards, is also encouraged. Members are asked to participate in a professional manner by respecting these policy guidelines.
• All messages are expected to be civil and professional. No personal attacks, ever. The intention of all messages should be to encourage discussion, not generate interpersonal conflict. Consequently, please avoid expressing personal political views. Rather, our focus should be on public opinion concerning such views.
• Commercial messages are not appropriate for posting on WAPORnet.
• When addressing a new topic, please clearly state the topic of the message in the subject line.
• Please include your signature block in all messages. This should include your name, affiliation, location, and email address.
• Please try to avoid attachments, just provide links to articles, reports or other material you wish to share.
• Messages should contain information from which all can benefit. Personal messages should be sent to the intended recipient(s) only. Likewise, responses such as “me, too” or “thanks for the information” should be sent to the intended recipient(s) only, not the entire list.
• If you feel a listserv post violates these WAPORnet guidelines, please complain directly to the individual offender.
• Some email systems block or delay messages sent via listservs. You may need to designate “WAPORnet@WAPOR.simplelists.com” as a trusted publisher in your email reader software. Different programs may require inclusion in your address book or whitelisting.
• WAPOR reserves the right to delete spam messages and those which violate our Listserv policy.

3) Shortly before our Salzburg Conference, a number of members have submitted a proposal to us for setting up a special committee to investigate the use of public opinion polls as a mechanism by political parties in Mexico to select their candidates for elections. After two months of discussions at various levels, our Council has recently consented to the appointment of Michael Traugott, a former President of WAPOR, to form the Special Committee on the Use of Opinion Polls in Candidate Selection to conduct the study. Mike will report back to the Council on the membership of the committee together with a study plan. We expect the committee to present its report to members at our Seoul Conference next year. Here is a paraphrase of his preliminary plan, I will post the whole document in our WAPORnet later. Members interested in helping this study can contact Mike directly:

• Mike: While pre-election polls have been a mainstay of the public use of polls, across the past 50 years, the survey method has been deployed in a number of different ways as part of the political process, often with mixed or questionable results. The WAPOR Council asked me to chair a Special Committee on this topic. While it gets organized, I am interested in learning from WAPOR members about other incidents of this kind of use of polls. WAPOR is committed to the conduct of public opinion polls with rigorous scientific methods, including full disclosure of them. It is also interested in how poll results are communicated to various relevant constituencies, including the political parties and candidates, the press, and the public. The committee will include these considerations in its review of the current state of affairs.

4) Prompted by the setting up of the Special Committee mentioned, and in light of increasing requests for action from members, our Executive Council has recently drafted a “Policy on Requests from Pollsters Regarding Threats to the Freedoms to Conduct and Publish Public Opinion Polls” which will be submitted to the Council for endorsement. Here are some quotes from the draft:

• To prioritize our responses… WAPOR is setting criteria by which we will decide to engage or not: Is there a direct threat to our core freedoms to conduct and publish public opinion polls, or a clear breach of the WAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices? Is the requesting pollster or organization a member of WAPOR? Does the threat involve the personal safety and/or civil liberty of a member of WAPOR? Is this a threat to our freedoms coming from the national government, rather than a dispute between clients and practitioners or disagreements between practitioners and academics?
• If the criteria for engagement are met, the Executive Council shall decide how to handle the request, including but not limited to: (a) recommend the setting up of a Special Committee to handle the request, or (b) designate a representative (most likely the Vice President or the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee) to interact with the requester(s), or (c) issue a public statement to address the request. In all cases, advice and consent of the Council has to be sought, even in retrospect if the case is urgent.
• This policy does not prevent WAPOR members, including office holders, from engaging in these issues on their own, without WAPOR endorsement. However, in the absence of WAPOR engagement, members may not cite WAPOR as a participant in any actions which they may initiate.

If any member has any comments or ideas to share, please write to us or post them on our  WAPORnet, sooner the better.

All these developments would not have happened had fellow members not come forward with enthusiasm, and treated each other with respect. Yes, all of us are volunteers, and we don’t even have one full-time staff. However, all of us are working as hard as possible to leverage on our unique leadership position in the world of public opinion research. We have kickstarted our Friends of WAPOR initiative to reach out to our students, fellow professionals and other potential members, we keep enhancing our WAPORnet forums to promote bottom-up suggestions, we are working actively with our Regional Chapters to enlarge our local and regional networks, and most important of all, we are constantly recruiting new talents to our leadership through annual elections and committee appointments. If you find our work worth supporting, please give us a helping hand.

Remember to vote before the end of this month, and also to help us recruit more Friends by asking people to click on the new “Become a Friend” button on the top right corner of our website!

Humbly yours,

Robert Chung

WAPOR President