World Association for Public Opinion Research

Infobox Organization
name = World Association for Public Opinion Research


abbreviation = WAPOR
motto =
formation = 1947
extinction =
type = Professional association
headquarters =
location =
membership = > 450
leader_title = President
leader_name = Michael Traugott
num_staff =
budget =
website = http://www.unl.edu/wapor/

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. [cite web
url = http://www.unl.edu/wapor/social_science.html
title = International Social Science Council
accessdate = 2007-11-03
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research]

History

Established in 1947 at the Second International Conference on Public Opinion Research held in Williamstown, Massachusettscite journal
last = Dodd
first = Stuart C.
year = 1957
month = Spring
title = The World Association for Public Opinion Research
journal = Public Opinion Quarterly
volume = 21
issue = 1
pages = 179–84
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-362X(195721)21%3A1%3C179%3ATWAFPO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W
accessdate = 2007-11-02
doi = 10.1086/266698] [cite journal
author = Hart, Clyde W., and Don Cahalan
year = 1957
month = Spring
title = The Development of AAPOR
journal = Public Opinion Quarterly
volume = 21
issue = 1
pages = 165–73
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-362X%28195721%2921%3A1%3C165%3ATDOA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9
accessdate = 2007-11-02
doi = 10.1086/266696] 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. [cite book
author = Rokkan, Stein (ed)
title = A Quarter Century of International Social Science: Papers and Reports on Developments, 1952-1977
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=VwIwAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&q=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&pgis=1
accessdate = 2007-11-02
year = 1979
publisher =
location =
oclc = 7575815
pages = 279] In 1953, it became the sole nongovernment consultant organization to UNESCO in the field of polling.

Its current president is Michael Traugott (University of Michigan) and the vice president is Thomas Petersen (Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach). [cite web
url = http://www.unl.edu/wapor/executive%20council.htm
title = Executive Council
accessdate = 2007-11-02
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research] Among the former presidents of WAPOR are Juan Linz, Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Robert Worcester and Seymour Martin Lipset. [cite web
url = http://www.unl.edu/WAPOR/history.html
title = History
accessdate = 2007-11-03
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research]

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; by 1962, these figures had risen to approximately 200 and more than 30, respectively. [citation
title = Encyclopedia Americana
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=C_lLAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&q=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&pgis=1
accessdate = 2007-11-02
year = 1965
volume = 22
publisher = Americana Corporation
pages = 774] In 1970, WAPOR had more than 300 members from 41 countries. [citation
title = Encyclopædia Britannica
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=OMgqAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&q=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&pgis=1
accessdate = 2007-11-02
year = 1974
volume = 15
publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
isbn = 0852292902
pages = 214]

As of 2007, the association has over 450 members from research institutes and universities in over 50 countries. [cite web
url = http://www.unl.edu/wapor/membership_info.html
title = Membership Information
accessdate = 2007-11-02
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research]

Activities

WAPOR sponsors the "International Journal of Public Opinion Research", a social science journal published by Oxford University Press. [cite web
url = http://ijpor.oxfordjournals.org/
title = Oxford Journals: Social Sciences – Int. Journal of Public Opinion Research
accessdate = 2007-02-21
year = 2007
publisher = Oxford Journals ]

The association also holds an annual conference in North America in even-numbered years, in cooperation with the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and in Europe in odd-numbered years, in cooperation with the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research. [cite web
url = http://www.unl.edu/wapor/conferences.html
title = Conferences and Seminars
accessdate = 2007-11-02
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research ]

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". [cite web
url = http://www.unl.edu/WAPOR/awards.html
title = Awards and Prizes
accessdate = 2007-11-02
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research ] Prior recipients include social scientists Philip Converse, Louis Guttman, [cite encyclopedia
encyclopedia = World of Sociology
title = Louis Guttman
url = http://www.bookrags.com/biography/louis-guttman-soc/
accessdate = 2008-01-01
year = 2005-2006
publisher = Thomson Gale ]
Roger Jowell, [cite web
url = http://www.city.ac.uk/sociology/dps/SOCIOLOGY_RESEARCH_REPORT_2005-06.pdf
title = Annual Research Report, 2005-2006
accessdate = 2008-01-01
format = PDF
publisher = Department of Sociology, City University London
pages = 9 ]
Elihu Katz, [cite book
author = Dennis, Everette E., and Ellen Wartella (eds)
title = American Communication Research: The Remembered History
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Z9n1HICzx4oC&pg=PA195&dq=%22Helen+Dinerman+Award%22&sig=lAYhXFmk82UTzO6cjGyAAgRp51M
accessdate = 2007-12-31
year = 1996
publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
location =
isbn = 978-0-8058-1744-7
pages = 195 ]
Juan Linz, Seymour Martin Lipset, [cite news
title = Hoover Senior Fellow Seymour Martin Lipset Dies
work = Business Wire
date = 2007-01-03 ]
Robert K. Merton, [cite journal
last = Dillman
first = Don A.
title = Helen Dinerman and the Connecting of Science with Practice1
journal = Newsletter
issue = Second Quarter 2006
pages = 7–10
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research
url = http://www.crs.wsu.edu/facstaff/dillman/don-dinerman06-brief.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-01-01 ]
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, [cite book
author = Salmon, Charles T., and Chi-Yung Moh
editor = J. David Kennamer
title = Public Opinion, The Press, and Public Policy
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=qTzsujjiQMsC&pg=PA146&dq=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&sig=WFmIHjzwcePdbBtuTtVWIHz_MBI
accessdate = 2007-11-02
year = 1994
publisher = Praeger Publishers
location = Westport, Connecticut
isbn = 978-0-275-95097-2
pages = 146
chapter = The Spiral of Silence: Linking Individual and Society Through Communication ] [cite book
last = Viswanath
first = K.
editor = Nancy Signorielli
title = Women in Communication: A Biographical Sourcebook
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Jds8Oc1Oqt0C&pg=PA303&dq=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&sig=CC2IUMzi3ll-er4ko_dPpYRMjJM
accessdate = 2007-11-02
year = 1996
publisher = Greenwood Press
location = Westport, Connecticut
isbn = 978-0-313-29164-7
pages = 303
chapter = Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916– ) ]
Sidney Verba, [cite journal
title = 2004 Dinerman Award Winner: Dr. Sidney Verba
journal = Newsletter
issue = Second Quarter 2004
pages = 4–5
publisher = World Association for Public Opinion Research
url = http://www.unl.edu/WAPOR/Newsletters/2nd%20Q%202004.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2008-01-01 ]
Robert Worcester, and Daniel Yankelovich. [cite web
url = http://www.publicagenda.org/aboutpa/aboutpa_whoswho_detail.cfm?list=1
title = Daniel Yankelovich
accessdate = 2007-11-02
work = Who's Who at Public Agenda?
publisher = Public Agenda ]

Influence

Richard Morin, former polling director of "The Washington Post", described WAPOR as "the leading professional association of pollsters working outside the United States". [cite news
first = Richard
last = Morin
title = Crackdown on Pollsters
url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/wat/archive/wat011998.htm
work = The Washington Post
date = 1998-01-19
accessdate = 2007-11-03]
Herbert Weisberg, a political scientist at The Ohio State University and former president of the Midwest Political Science Association, [cite web
url = https://pro.osu.edu/profiles/weisberg.1/
title = Dr. Herbert F. Weisberg
accessdate = 2007-11-03
work = OSU:pro
publisher = The Ohio State University] further credited WAPOR with contributing to the internationalization, and thereby the professionalization, of the field of survey research. [cite book
last = Weisberg
first = Herbert F.
title = The Total Survey Error Approach: A Guide to the New Science of Survey Research
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=lH2f9Ka60IQC&pg=PA11&dq=%22World+Association+for+Public+Opinion+Research%22&sig=kkAj9i5d1yFHAY8ZR_7164Yp87Q
accessdate = 2007-11-03
year = 2005
publisher = University of Chicago Press
location = Chicago, Illinois
isbn = 978-0-226-89127-9
pages = 11]

See also

* Opinion poll
* Public opinion

References

External links

* [http://www.wapor.org Official website of WAPOR]
* [http://ijpor.oxfordjournals.org/ "International Journal of Public Opinion Research"]