Announcements

Candidates for Office – 2022-2023

Kevin Ulrich

Candidate for Vice-President / President Elect

Leah Dean, PhD

Leah Dean’s first involvement with MAPOR was in 2018, when she presented a portion of her dissertation work. Since then, Leah has earned a BA in French Language and Literature from Transylvania University, a Master of Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh, and her PhD in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati. She has been a survey scientist with RTI International’s Survey Research Division since April 2020. Her expertise is in health surveys at the national level. She served as MAPOR’s Associate Conference Chair in 2021, where she assisted in the development and execution of the hybrid conference planning. Leah currently serves as the 2022 Conference Chair. Leah looks forward to the opportunity to help MAPOR continue to grow and evolve in its engagement with professionals and students.

Candidate for Associate Conference Chair

Jenny Marlar, PhD

Jenny Marlar has worked for Gallup since 2008 and is the Director of Survey Research. Her work focuses on methods for recruiting and retaining probability-based panels, address-based sampling methodologies, emerging technologies for data collection, and surveying hard-to-reach populations. She is a member of the AAPOR Standards Committee and the AAPOR Online Panel Taskforce and is excited about the opportunity to serve MAPOR. Jenny has an MS and PhD in Survey Research and Methodology from the University of Nebraska and attended her first MAPOR conference as a student in 2008. She remembers that first experience (and every MAPOR conference since) for its strong program of papers and speakers and for being friendly and welcoming. Prior to beginning her graduate studies in 2006, Jenny was an event planner and owned an event planning and decorating business. 

Candidate for Associate Conference Chair

Rebecca Powell, PhD

Rebecca J. Powell is a Research Survey Methodologist at RTI International. Rebecca joined MAPOR 10 years ago as a graduate student from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she earned a PhD in Survey Research and Methodology. Her main research focus is on improving survey response quality through visual design principles in self-administered questionnaires, and her work has been published in the Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology. Rebecca is a strong advocate of continuous education. As a certified RStudio tidyverse trainer, she has taught multiple courses on analysis of survey data in R for MAPOR and AAPOR. Rebecca joined the MAPOR Executive Council in 2021 and serves on the Online Learning Committee where she organizes opportunities for students and professionals to learn about best practices and new methods in survey research and analysis. She hopes to continue her work on the MAPOR Executive Council as Associate Conference Chair to further promote continuous education for all MAPOR members.

MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes – May 2022

Hillary Hanson

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

May 16, 2022

12:30 – 2:00 CST / 1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST

Zoom invite

MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH:  Thanks to everyone who represented MAPOR at the AAPOR conference this week! We had a great turnout at the All Chapter Welcome and had a very successful raffle which resulted in signing up about 40 persons for the “Friends of MAPOR” list. 

MAPOR Mission Statement

We provide high-quality educational and conference programs to encourage scholarly exchanges across disciplines and geographies, broaden member access to mentors and resources, and bolster opportunities for leadership and innovations. We join forces with AAPOR, academic institutions, and government and industry employers to develop a thriving community that supports all MAPOR members, including students, scholars, and professionals in every stage of their career.

MAPOR Vision Statement

MAPOR is a leading voice in public opinion, survey, and social science scholarship, methods, and practice among regional professional associations. We are an inclusive and supportive community that enables our diverse members to achieve their educational, professional development, and networking goals. 

Agenda:

Attendees: Ben, Lindsey, Evgenia, Leah, Hillary, Rebecca, Patrick, Bob, Erin, Justine, David, and Jerry

Kevin will send a Doodle to reschedule the next meeting, since it is currently scheduled on Juneteenth.

  1. Approval of last meeting’s minutes 
  1. 2022 Conference             (Leah)
    1. Conference support committee updates
    2. Call for participation
    3. Student paper competition
      1. KU will reach out to potential fellow matches this week to ask about interest in matching with the selected students. 

Leah is putting everything together for the call for abstracts and the newsletter. She will send the call for abstracts through Cvent and do a social media blast. The call for abstracts will hopefully go out before Memorial Day. The plan is to close abstract submissions by July 29th. Ben can do a social media teaser too, including information on the travel awards. Evgenia suggested having a professional development session at the conference. Leah will review the hotel conference contract and reach out to the hotel about when they need the hotel block confirmed. Patrick suggested that Leah follow-up with Allison Holbrook about the student paper competition, so Evgenia can apply.

  1. Secretary / Treasurer’s Report (Lindsey)
    1. Financial updates
      1. Checking: $27,979
      2. Savings: $46,973.50
    2. Membership survey update
      1. Lindsey will analyze the data this week and put together a piece for the newsletter.
    3. MAPOR privacy policy
      1. Can we use the template from AAPOR?
        1. They are going to send us a boilerplate document.
    4. Zoom licenses
      1. We now have an annual license.
  1. Communications                     (Benjamin)
    1. Summer newsletter upcoming – tentative timeline

Ben will send the newsletter out when we have a good amount of material. Justine suggested sending it out a few weeks before the abstract submissions wrap up. Ben will have more of a timeline when we meet in June, but Justine suggested sending it out by July 15th. 

  1. Website                           (Hillary)
  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee (Bob)
    1. Student Fellowship Program updates
  1. Sponsorship (Dana)
  1. Online Learning Committee               (Justine)
    1. Feedback and discussion on the execution of the first webinar
    2. Other events? 
      1. Resume review? 
      2. Speed networking?

MAPOR had a very successful, three-part webinar series. The feedback was very positive. The committee is discussing doing some type of resume building/networking webinar in August or September. 

  1. Other business
    1. Mixers in 2022 – waiting for COVID rates to decline – any suggestions for locations

We discussed doing some kind of Zoom session or something in Chicago. Please bring your ideas to the June meeting.

Council members

President – Kevin Ulrich

Vice President / President Elect – Justine Bulgar-Medina

Past President – Dana Garbarski

Conference Chair – Leah Dean

Associate Conference Chair – Patrick Hsieh

Secretary-Treasurer – Lindsey Witt-Swanson

Website Coordinator – Hillary Hanson

Sponsorship Coordinator – Dana Garbarski

Student Liaison – Evgenia Kapousouz

Communications Chair – Benjamin Schapiro

Members at Large – Bob Davis, Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, David Sterrett, Jerry Timbrook

Committees

Conference Committee – Leah Dean (Chair), Patrick Hsieh, David Sterrett

Online Learning Committee – Justine Bulgar-Medina (Chair), Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook

Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Bob Davis (Chair), Evgenia Kapousouz

Secretary Treasurer Support – Lindsey Witt-Swanson, Kevin Ulrich 

Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Justine Bulgar-Medina, Evgenia Kapousouz

AAPOR Conference Committee – TBD

MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes – April 2022

Hillary Hanson

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

April 18, 2022

12:30 – 2:00 CST / 1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST

Zoom invite:

MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH:  This month we spotlight on everyone who assisted with putting together the first webinar series. Thanks to Rebecca and her colleagues for agreeing to present on behalf of MAPOR. To the others on the Online learning committee – Justine, Jerry, and Erin – for their assistance with logistics and planning. And to Lindsey for her diligent work with the registrations and communications with getting people signed up and paid. Great job, and many thanks to all!

MAPOR Mission Statement

We provide high-quality educational and conference programs to encourage scholarly exchanges across disciplines and geographies, broaden member access to mentors and resources, and bolster opportunities for leadership and innovations. We join forces with AAPOR, academic institutions, and government and industry employers to develop a thriving community that supports all MAPOR members, including students, scholars, and professionals in every stage of their career.

MAPOR Vision Statement

MAPOR is a leading voice in public opinion, survey, and social science scholarship, methods, and practice among regional professional associations. We are an inclusive and supportive community that enables our diverse members to achieve their educational, professional development, and networking goals. 

Attendees: Erin, Lindsey, Leah, Ben, Kevin, David, Dana, Jerry, Rebecca, Patrick, and Hillary

Agenda:

  1. Last meeting’s minutes were approved.
  1. 2022 Conference             (Leah)
    1. Conference support committee updates

Leah is going to reach out to Patrick and David to start thinking about themes. She is hoping to have the theme for the next meeting. 

  1. Secretary / Treasurer’s Report (Lindsey)
    1. Financial updates
      1. Checking – $28,645.64
      2. Savings – $46,973.13
    2. Membership survey update
      1. Lindsey will close the survey after 4/29. 
    3. Chapter representative meeting update
      1. MAPOR does not have a privacy policy. Lindsey will get the template from AAPOR. 
      2. Lindsey shared that the AAPOR hotel has a union. For the happy hour, we are not allowed to move the table or bring in food. We are also discouraged from bringing in a lot of boxes.
    4. Invoice for AAPOR to support all chapter event – $1,500 – Jeanette Gass – SENT
      1. Lindsey sent the check in 4/15/2022.
    5. CVENT billing – Should we change to another platform?
      1. Lindsey reached out to CVENT for pricing on 4/15/2022.
    6. Zoom monthly to annual?
      1. Zoom reached out after we canceled the extra licenses from the conference to let us know that we could save by purchasing an annual license instead of paying for a monthly license. The monthly license is $179.88/year compared to $149.90/year for an annual license. The EC agreed to move forward with the annual license. 
  1. Communications                     (Benjamin)
    1. April newsletter upcoming – tentative timeline is no later than last week of April
      1. Will also include MAPOR @ AAPOR 

The MAPOR at AAPOR survey is going today. It will be collected the next two weeks and then there will be a digest to members with everything MAPOR members are doing at AAPOR. Webinar communication has gone well. Benjamin would like to include a recap of the webinar series in the newsletter. He wants a first draft of the newsletter ready for review by the end of day for the 29th.

  1. Will have outreach for survey on the content calendar as well
  1. Website                             (Hillary)

Hillary will post things as needed. 

  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee (Bob)
    1. Student Fellowship Program

We extended the Student Fellowship deadline by two weeks. Now, we have two applicants, both meeting eligibility criteria. Their materials are very strong so we will likely accept both. The announcement will come out soon.

  1. Sponsorship (Dana)

Nothing to report.

  1. Online Learning Committee           (Justine)
    1. Feedback and discussion on the execution of the first webinar
      1. 200 people registered across the three webinars. On Friday, around 80 people logged on during the webinar.
      2. Fourteen responses were received to the evaluation after the webinar. Three or four were students. The feedback was positive. They ran out of time, so most of the feedback was about that.
      3. We discussed looking at how many students, members, and non-members registered, paid, and logged on after the three webinars to see if we need to adjust our cost structure.
      4. There were some people who asked to register after the deadline. Lindsey and Justine had told them that registration was closed. With so many not logging on for the webinar, those people will now be able to register. 
        1. Justine will send Lindsey the people who reached out to her by end of day Monday. Lindsey will email them and the people who had reached out to her Tuesday and say they can register if they pay by end of day Wednesday. Lindsey will use the payment buttons and enter registration information in the spreadsheet manually. 
    2. Webinars this week and next week
    3. Other events? 
      1. Resume review? 
      2. Speed networking?

The committee will get through the webinar series and AAPOR and then move on to the other event ideas. 

  1. Other business
    1. Mixers in 2022 – waiting for COVID rates to decline – any suggestions for locations
      1. Response from UW Madison has been “cool”

We need a person on the ground to help pick the location. We will try to talk to people about it during the All Chapter Happy Hour. Renting a room has not been cost effective in the past.

  1. AAPOR 2022
    1. Wednesday 6:30-7:30pm – New member/All chapter Happy Hour
      1. It will be great if EC members can attend behind the MAPOR table!
      2. Table cloth (KU will bring)
        1. Kevin washed it. YAY!
      3. MAPOR banner (Dana)
        1. Dana will bring it to the conference.
      4. Other stuff?? (Dana)
        1. Dana will bring an assortment of MAPOR swag.
        2. Dana will coordinate with Justine on a place to keep the swag and banner during that day. Justine knows a room to use.
      5. Raffle or some kind of give away? In the past we have had a raffle, people leave cards and we add them to ‘Friends of MAPOR’ list
        1. Raffle ideas
          1. Webinars, conference registration or membership
          2. A regional basket and we offer shipping
          3. A gift card for something near the conference hotel
          4. A gift cards to correspond with the pub crawl
    2. Thursday, 8-10 pm – All chapter party
      1. Nothing for us to do. 

Congrats to Jerry for being elected the AAPOR Associate Membership and Chapter Relations Chair!!!

Council members

President – Kevin Ulrich

Vice President / President Elect – Justine Bulgar-Medina

Past President – Dana Garbarski

Conference Chair – Leah Dean

Associate Conference Chair – Patrick Hsieh

Secretary-Treasurer – Lindsey Witt-Swanson

Website Coordinator – Hillary Hanson

Sponsorship Coordinator – Dana Garbarski

Student Liaison – Evgenia Kapousouz

Communications Chair – Benjamin Schapiro

Members at Large – Bob Davis, Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, David Sterrett, Jerry Timbrook

Committees

Conference Committee – Leah Dean (Chair), Patrick Hsieh, David Sterrett

Online Learning Committee – Justine Bulgar-Medina (Chair), Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook

Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Bob Davis (Chair), Evgenia Kapousouz

Secretary Treasurer Support – Lindsey Witt-Swanson, Kevin Ulrich 

Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Justine Bulgar-Medina, Evgenia Kapousouz

AAPOR Conference Committee – TBD

MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes – March 2022

Hillary Hanson

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA

March 21, 2022

12:30 – 2:00 CST / 1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST

Zoom invite

MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH:  This month we point the spotlight on Benjamin for getting the MAPOR Winter newsletter put together and distributed! Thanks to all who contributed ideas and input!

MAPOR Mission Statement

We provide high-quality educational and conference programs to encourage scholarly exchanges across disciplines and geographies, broaden member access to mentors and resources, and bolster opportunities for leadership and innovations. We join forces with AAPOR, academic institutions, and government and industry employers to develop a thriving community that supports all MAPOR members, including students, scholars, and professionals in every stage of their career.

MAPOR Vision Statement

MAPOR is a leading voice in public opinion, survey, and social science scholarship, methods, and practice among regional professional associations. We are an inclusive and supportive community that enables our diverse members to achieve their educational, professional development, and networking goals. 

Agenda:

  1. Approval of last meeting’s minutes 
    1. Justine moves to approve, Hillary seconds. All in favor, motion passes 
  1. 2022 Conference             (Leah)
    1. Conference support committee updates
      1. All three speakers confirmed: Kristin Olson (short course), Jill Dever (pedagogy), and Charles Franklin (keynote)
  1. Secretary / Treasurer’s Report (Lindsey)                
    1. Financial updates
      1. Checking – $27,623
      2. Savings – $46,973
    2. Membership list updates
      1. Membership has been updated from input from AAPOR
      2. 233 non-students and 69 students – total members = 302
    3. Tentative tasks for 2022
      1. Member survey for 2022 – member survey will go out this week. Thanks to all for your input and for getting this ready to go. 
      2. Not for Profit Annual Report filing – SUBMITTED
      3. Cvent billing – Should we drop our other platforms? 
        1. Easier and cheaper if we can drop the other platforms. 
      4. MAPOR address ‘move’ to NORC building
        1. CVENT – ADDRESS CHANGED
        2. Chase bank – ADDRESS CHANGED
        3. IRS – ADDRESS CHANGED
  1. Communications                     (Benjamin)
    1. Newsletter went out a week ago
    2. April newsletter upcoming – tentative timeline is no later than last week of April
      1. Will also include MAPOR @ AAPOR 
    3. Will have outreach for survey on the content calendar as well
  1. Website                             (Hillary)
    1. Newsletter is on website
    2. Meeting minutes archive updated
  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee (Bob)
  1. Sponsorship (Dana)
    1. Nothing to discuss
  1. Online Learning Committee           (Justine)
    1. Webinars
      1. April panel series on survey analysis in R 
        1. 3 part series with Rebecca Powell and coauthors, hosted on Zoom with breakout rooms
        2. Tentatively scheduled for the last three Fridays in April 
        3. Would prefer the series be free, especially for students 
          1. $10/session for member non-students, but free for students, $15 for non-member non-students
        4. Correspondence will begin at the end of this week 
    2. Other events? 
      1. Resume review? 
      2. Speed networking?
  1. Other business
    1. Mixers in 2022 – waiting for COVID rates to decline – any suggestions for locations
      1. Any conferences/events we can piggy back on to host a mixer?
        1. Kevin will reach out to John to host a mixer in Madison 
    2. AAPOR Party Chapter meeting 3/16/22
      1. Thursday, May 12th at Lizzie McNeils – 8pm to midnight
      2. Need to determine an amount to sponsor for this event – invoice will go out in April – Kevin will reach out after we determine amount
        1. In the past, this has been $1500. This year they are asking for $1000 but stating that you can give more
        2. MAPOR will send $1500
      3. Send Logo to Jeannette Gass when invoice is received
      4. We may also put together single slide to be played at the event – content of our choosing

Council members

President – Kevin Ulrich

Vice President / President Elect – Justine Bulgar-Medina

Past President – Dana Garbarski

Conference Chair – Leah Dean

Associate Conference Chair – Patrick Hsieh

Secretary-Treasurer – Lindsey Witt-Swanson

Website Coordinator – Hillary Hanson

Sponsorship Coordinator – Dana Garbarski

Student Liaison – Evgenia Kapousouz

Communications Chair – Benjamin Schapiro

Members at Large – Bob Davis, Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, David Sterrett, Jerry Timbrook

Committees

Conference Committee – Leah Dean (Chair), Patrick Hsieh, David Sterrett

Online Learning Committee – Justine Bulgar-Medina (Chair), Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook

Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Bob Davis (Chair), Evgenia Kapousouz

Secretary Treasurer Support – Lindsey Witt-Swanson, Kevin Ulrich 

Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Justine Bulgar-Medina, Evgenia Kapousouz

AAPOR Conference Committee – TBD

2022 Annual Conference

Hillary Hanson

47th Annual Conference

Held November 18-19, 2022 at Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown!

“Turbulent Times: Public Opinion Research in a Changing Landscape”

There have been substantial (and surprising) shifts in both the way our work is conducted and the results of our work. Combined with the fact that this is a midterm election year, our conference theme asks the MAPOR community to consider the innovations and changes that have occurred in survey research in recent years. We encourage abstract submissions on all facets of research related to public opinion, communication, survey research, and their methodologies. Topics may include but are not limited to: questionnaire design; interviewers’ role in data collection; total survey error; politics and public opinion; social media and public opinion; journalism, media, and public opinion; machine learning, big data, and data science; location and geographic information; challenges facing the field due to technological and societal shifts; the ethical use of public opinion and survey data; public opinion on social, economic, and political issues; data collection issues and strategies; qualitative and mixed-method research techniques; cross-cultural research; recruitment, participation, nonresponse; hard-to-reach populations; existing and new methods for collecting data from respondents; and data quality issues.

2022 Conference highlights:

Friday morning short course: “Budgeting 101: ‘Hands On’ Budget Development for Public Opinion Research Projects”

Chuck Shuttles, HyphaMetrics & Jordon Peugh, SSRS

Friday morning short course: “So You Want to Do a Mixed-Mode Survey? Considerations and Design Decisions When Mixing Web and Mail Modes”

Kristin Olson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Friday midday keynote address: “The Public Interest in Public Polling”

Charles Franklin, Marquette University

Saturday midday pedagogy hour: “Mental and Substance Use Disorders Prevalence Study: Using Probability and Nonprobability Sample Data to Enhance Coverage of the U.S. Adult Population”

Jill Dever, RTI International

Register here!

Preliminary program

Hotel reservation available here

MAPOR 2022 Call for Participation

Hillary Hanson

The Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research Conference Committee is hard at work planning MAPOR’s

47th Annual Conference

Held November 18-19, 2022 at Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown!

Reminder to submit your abstracts: Due July 29th, 2022!

The Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research’s annual conference welcomes abstract submissions on any topic related to public opinion research, communication, or survey research methodology. This year, we are accepting submissions for the following types of presentations: papers, methodological briefs, posters, and panels of papers. We are particularly interested in papers that relate to our conference theme:

“Turbulent Times: Public Opinion Research in a Changing Landscape”

There have been substantial (and surprising) shifts in both the way our work is conducted and the results of our work. Combined with the fact that this is a midterm election year, our conference theme asks the MAPOR community to consider the innovations and changes that have occurred in survey research in recent years. We encourage abstract submissions on all facets of research related to public opinion, communication, survey research, and their methodologies. Topics may include but are not limited to: questionnaire design; interviewers’ role in data collection; total survey error; politics and public opinion; social media and public opinion; journalism, media, and public opinion; machine learning, big data, and data science; location and geographic information; challenges facing the field due to technological and societal shifts; the ethical use of public opinion and survey data; public opinion on social, economic, and political issues; data collection issues and strategies; qualitative and mixed-method research techniques; cross-cultural research; recruitment, participation, nonresponse; hard-to-reach populations; existing and new methods for collecting data from respondents; and data quality issues.

Submissions: Abstracts of 300 words or fewer can be submitted at https://cvent.me/Y1Owvq. In addition to a title and abstract, you will be asked to provide the name, institutional affiliation, and email address for all authors. The same author’s name may appear as first author on a maximum of two submissions. To allow for blind review, please remove all personally identifying information from the abstract’s text before submission.

Note to student authors: If all authors are students who will be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at the time of the conference, you may submit your paper to the MAPOR Fellows Student Paper Competition. Please note that the criteria for the student paper competition has changed slightly for 2022. Please visit mapor.org for details. When submitting a student paper to the competition, the student submitter will be asked to provide the name and e-mail address of a faculty mentor. The faculty mentor will be asked to send an email of 25 words or fewer endorsing the paper when the full paper is submitted.

Panel Proposals: Panels focus on a common theme and include 4 or 5 participants. A panel proposal requires a description of 300 words or fewer discussing the issues to be addressed and their importance. Also, submissions should list the potential panelists, their institutional affiliations, email addresses, and tentative titles of presentations. Panels related to the conference theme are especially encouraged.

Submission Information: All abstracts must be posted no later than 11:59pm CDT on Friday July 29, 2022. Accepted papers sharing a theme will be scheduled during a paper session. Papers with more individualized topics will be scheduled during a poster session. MAPOR considers both types of presentation equally valuable. All submitters will be notified via e-mail by September 2nd of their abstract’s acceptance status. For questions or problems with the submission process, please contact the 2022 MAPOR conference chair, Leah Dean at: abstracts@mapor.org.

Travel Grants: The MAPOR Council will be offering two types of support grants for the 2022 Annual Conference: the MAPOR Student Support Grant and the MAPOR Colleague Grant. More details on these awards can be found on mapor.org.

2022 Student Paper Competition

Kevin Ulrich

The Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research invites eligible students to enter the association’s MAPOR Fellows Student Paper Competition. Two winning papers, the Doris A. Graber Award in public opinion and the Allan L. McCutcheon Award in survey research methodology, will receive $500 and one free conference registration. The winning papers also will be accepted for presentation during a session at the May 2023 AAPOR conference. 

Eligibility

  • For the purposes of this competition, an eligible student is someone enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate program at the time of the conference. A paper authored by more than one person is considered an eligible student paper only if all authors are students according to the above definition. Students need not be members of MAPOR. 
  • Students who have already won a MAPOR Student Paper Award are not eligible to submit as a sole or co-author. A student who has not won the award can submit in multiple years, but cannot submit the same paper multiple times (this would be unfair because all student paper competition entries are reviewed and provided with detailed comments by at least one MAPOR Fellow)
  • Papers submitted to this competition should be primarily students’ work, although student author(s) are encouraged to seek advice from a faculty mentor. This requirement does not preclude recognizing the faculty mentor as a co-author on a later paper that is based on or incorporates some of the work in the student paper. In most cases the student would be first author on such a later publication.

The topic of the paper must fall under one or both of MAPOR’s general areas of scholarship, which are (1) public opinion and (2) research methods in public opinion and survey research. When submitting, the author(s) must indicate the topic for which the paper should be considered. The papers need not be quantitative nor must they report data in order to qualify for consideration in this competition. Each student may be an author on only one paper submitted to the competition.

Procedure

1. Submit an abstract to the MAPOR conference at mapor.org. In addition to a title and abstract, you will be asked to provide the name, institutional affiliation, and email address for all authors. Students must provide the name and e-mail address of a faculty mentor when submitting their abstract. Abstracts can be submitted until 11:59pm CDT on Friday, August 12th, 2022. 

2. Students whose papers have been accepted for the 2021 conference can have their papers considered for MAPOR Fellows Student Paper Competition.  Here are the requirements:

  • Send full paper in Word format that follows all the instructions below to Allyson Holbrook (allyson@uic.edu) by 11:59pm CDT, Friday, October 7th, 2022.
  •  Remove all acknowledgments and other identifying information and run “Inspect” in Word to remove all authorship information that Word stores in the document.
  • Include a title page with title, abstract, and the word count (number of words of text including footnotes).
    • Maximum length is 6,500 words of text including footnotes.
  • Put the following at the end of the manuscript and do not include them in the word count:  tables, references, and appendices.
  • All papers must adhere to the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practice. Review the information about the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics & Practices and make sure this information is included in the appropriate places in the manuscript. (Please pay particular attention to the disclosure elements in Section III.)
  • Include the following in the email that accompanies your submission: 
    • A subject line that says:  MAPOR Student Paper Competition-Student Name
    • A statement that your manuscript includes the information required by the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices.
    • The names and email addresses of all authors.
    • The USPS address, phone number, and email address of the contact author.
    • The name and email address of the faculty mentor for the paper.
  • Identify a faculty mentor and ask them to do the following by Friday, October 7:
    • Review the submission to ensure it meets professional standards of readability, grammar, and so forth. This ensures that the reviewers can attend to the substance of the paper.
    • Review the submission to verify that it does not exceed the length limitation
  • The faculty mentor you identify will also be sent an email asking them to complete an online form which must be completed in order for a student to be eligible to win the competition. This form will ask them to:
    • The name of the student entering the competition who they have mentored.
    • Confirm that they have reviewed the submission to ensure that it meets professional standards and does not exceed length limitations.
    • Briefly describe the student’s role and contributions to the following aspects of the paper: (1) the formulation of the main research question or topic, (2) reviewing and synthesizing the literature, (3) gathering data, (4) analyzing the data, and (5) writing the paper.

A committee composed of MAPOR Fellows will judge all papers submitted to the competition. Winners will be announced at the Friday Awards Session.

AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics & Practices

All submissions must abide by the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics & Practices. Manuscripts that make use of survey data must include, at minimum, the information below from Section III-A of the Code:

A…. [I]nclude the following items in any report of research results or make them available immediately upon release of that report.

1. Who sponsored the research study, who conducted it, and who funded it, including, to the extent known, all original funding sources.

2. The exact wording and presentation of questions and responses whose results are reported.

3. A definition of the population under study, its geographic location, and a description of the sampling frame used to identify this population. If the sampling frame was provided by a third party, the supplier shall be named. If no frame or list was utilized, this shall be indicated.

4. A description of the sample design, giving a clear indication of the method by which the respondents were selected (or self-selected) and recruited, along with any quotas or additional sample selection criteria applied within the survey instrument or post-fielding. The description of the sampling frame and sample design should include sufficient detail to determine whether the respondents were selected using probability or non-probability methods.

5. Sample sizes and a discussion of the precision of the findings, including estimates of sampling error for probability samples and a description of the variables used in any weighting or estimating procedures. The discussion of the precision of the findings should state whether or not the reported margins of sampling error or statistical analyses have been adjusted for the design effect due to clustering and weighting, if any.
6. Which results are based on parts of the sample, rather than on the total sample, and the size of such parts.

7. Method and dates of data collection.

All submissions must include the following:
8. The response rate and details of its calculation (if response rate is not appropriate, the refusal rate). Accurate reporting of the response rate requires consulting the AAPOR Standard Definitions (aapor.org), to identify the appropriate response rate definition. If the AAPOR recommendations are not followed, authors should explain why a nonstandard approach was employed.

9. For models fitted to the data, the equations of the models should be presented, including the numerical values of the parameter estimates, the respective standard errors, and goodness-of-fit statistics for the model.
In addition, authors need to agree to make other specific information about the study available within 30 days of any request for such materials. This information is listed in Section III-B of the Code located at aapor.org/Standards-Ethics/AAPOR-Code-of-Ethics

2022 Spring Webinar Series

Hillary Hanson

Tidy Survey Analysis in R: Workshop Series

Dr. Stephanie Zimmer
Senior Associate
Abt Associates		Dr. Rebecca Powell
Research Survey Methodologist
RTI International		Isabella Velásquez
Sr. Product Marketing Manager
RStudio

Three-part series (or any single session):
Friday, April 15th from 12-1:30 Eastern
Friday, April 22nd from 12-1:30 Eastern
Friday, April 29th from 12-1:30 Eastern

Register Here!

The Tidy Survey Analysis in R Workshop Series will feature 3 online sessions (1.5 hours each) on how to analyze survey data in R.  The first workshop will introduce functions to obtain weighted totals and proportions from survey data, and how to conduct weighted analyses using χ-squared tests and logistic regression models. The second workshop will introduce functions to obtain weighted means, quantiles, and ratios from survey data, and how to conduct weighted analyses using t-tests and linear regression models. The third workshop will take a closer look at the survey design object and will review common probability sampling designs.  We will also cover how to create replicate weights, derived variables, and reproducible research output. 

All sessions will include time for exercises in breakout rooms using data from the 2020 American National Election Study and the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, so you can get hands-on experience with the functions. We will be using RStudio Cloud, so you do not need to have R or RStudio preinstalled on your computer. For the best learning experience, we recommend you have some prior experience with R and the tidyverse. You should be familiar with mutate, summarize, count, and group_by.  The instructors are providing this course to obtain feedback on the material for their upcoming book on tidy survey analysis in R.

Dr. Stephanie Zimmer is a senior survey statistician with 10 years experience in survey sampling and design, survey weighting and analysis, and data management. She is an expert statistical programmer in R, SAS, and SUDAAN. She earned her PhD in Statistics from Iowa State University and her BS in Statistics from NC State. After earning her RStudio Tidyverse Trainer certification, she taught a course on tidy survey analysis in R in an AAPOR short course. She is currently a senior associate at Abt Associates.

Dr. Rebecca Powell is a research survey methodologist at RTI International.  Her research interests focus on visual design of questionnaires and contact materials. Additionally, Dr. Powell is a Certified RStudio Tidyverse Trainer and has taught courses and webinars on data management in R and tidy survey analysis in R at both AAPOR and MAPOR.  She has a PhD in Survey Research and Methodology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a BS and MS in Applied Statistics from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Isabella Velásquez is a content strategist, data enthusiast, and author. Her experience spans data collection, grantmaking, strategy development, and survey instrument development. She earned her MSc in Analytics and BA in Economics and East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. She currently works as a Sr. Product Marketing Manager at RStudio.