World Association for Public Opinion Research

World Association for Public Opinion Research
Abbreviation WAPOR
Formation 1947 (1947)
Type Professional association
Membership
> 600
Tom W. Smith
Website http://wapor.org

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

History

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 Tom W. Smith (NORC) and the vice president is Alejandro Moreno (Reforma, in Mexico).[5] Among the former presidents of WAPOR are Juan Linz, Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Robert Worcester and Seymour Martin Lipset.[6]

Membership

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 2012, the association has over 600 members from research institutes and universities in over 60 countries on six continents.[9]

Activities

WAPOR sponsors the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, a social science journal published by Oxford University Press.[10]

The association also holds an annual conference in North America in even-numbered years, in cooperation with the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and in Europe in odd-numbered years, in cooperation with the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).[11] AAPOR and ESOMAR are considered "allied associations."[12]

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".[13] Prior recipients include social scientists Philip Converse, Louis Guttman,[14] Roger Jowell,[15] Elihu Katz,[16] Juan Linz, Seymour Martin Lipset,[17] Robert K. Merton,[18] Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann,[19][20] Sidney Verba,[21] Robert Worcester, and Daniel Yankelovich.[22]

Influence

Richard Morin, former polling director of The Washington Post, described WAPOR as "the leading professional association of pollsters working outside the United States".[23] Herbert Weisberg, a political scientist at The Ohio State University and former president of the Midwest Political Science Association,[24] further credited WAPOR with contributing to the internationalization, and thereby the professionalization, of the field of survey research.[25]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "International Social Science Council". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  2. 1 2 3 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 (ed) (1979). A Quarter Century of International Social Science: Papers and Reports on Developments, 1952-1977. Concept. p. 279. 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. 22. Americana Corporation. 1965. p. 774. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  8. ↑ Warren E. Preece, editor. (1974). Encyclopædia Britannica. 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. ↑ "Oxford Journals: Social Sciences – Int. Journal of Public Opinion Research". Oxford Journals. 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
  11. ↑ "Conferences and Seminars". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  12. ↑ WAPOR homepage (accessed 26 December 2012)
  13. ↑ "Awards and Prizes". World Association for Public Opinion Research. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  14. ↑ "Louis Guttman". World of Sociology. Thomson Gale. 2005–2006. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  15. ↑ "Annual Research Report, 2005-2006" (PDF). Department of Sociology, City University London. p. 9. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  16. ↑ Dennis, Everette E., and Ellen Wartella (eds) (1996). American Communication Research: The Remembered History. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-8058-1744-7. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  17. ↑ "Hoover Senior Fellow Seymour Martin Lipset Dies". Business Wire. 2007-01-03.
  18. ↑ Dillman, Don A. "Helen Dinerman and the Connecting of Science with Practice1" (PDF). Newsletter. World Association for Public Opinion Research (Second Quarter 2006): 7–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  19. ↑ Salmon, Charles T. & Chi-Yung Moh (1994). "The Spiral of Silence: Linking Individual and Society Through Communication". In J. David Kennamer. Public Opinion, The Press, and Public Policy. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-275-95097-2. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  20. ↑ Viswanath, K. (1996). "Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916– )". In Nancy Signorielli. Women in Communication: A Biographical Sourcebook. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-313-29164-7. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  21. ↑ "2004 Dinerman Award Winner: Dr. Sidney Verba" (PDF). Newsletter. World Association for Public Opinion Research (Second Quarter 2004): 4–5. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  22. ↑ "Daniel Yankelovich". Who's Who at Public Agenda?. Public Agenda. Archived from the original on 2007-07-15. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  23. ↑ Morin, Richard (1998-01-19). "Crackdown on Pollsters". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  24. ↑ "Dr. Herbert F. Weisberg". OSU:pro. The Ohio State University. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  25. ↑ 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.
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