MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes – January 2023

Benjamin Schapiro

Note: The group will vote on changing the meeting schedule (starting in March, since January/February were both holidays and moved already). 

MAPOR moment of the month recognizes the OLC for their work on the recent series and upcoming planning to expand the reach of MAPOR events.  It’s been very well received!

  1. Conference Member Survey Planning (Justine/Leah/Patrick)

The small team will meet in the next month to move this forward on the survey generally, Patrick and Leah to let us know what they need.

  1. 2023 Conference             (Patrick)
  2. Conference support committee 
  3. Check with hotel about 2023 contract plans
  4. Skipping virtual components moving forward 

No updates from conference on contract needs, but Patrick will confirm logistics in coming months with hotel and ensure everything is all set (Leah did sign the next 3-year contract last year).

Leah & Patrick to meet and map out a planning timeline for the coming year.

Patrick may reach out for support on speakers and presenters from the council.  The current  idea is to focus the conference on broadening the connection between sectors of survey research (marketing, consulting, academic). 

One opportunity and challenge will be many classically trained or practicing methodologists have left our traditional spaces and employers for industry jobs such as Meta or Google.  They aren’t attending the conferences like MAPOR any more, so we’ll need to capture them.

Patrick to use ad-hoc conference support group (Jenny, Paul, etc.) to help connect with key folks and plan.

  1. Secretary / Treasurer’s Report (Lindsey)                
  2. Financial updates

As of 2/24/23

Checking: $21,008.66

Savings: $47,213.03

  1. Membership list updates
    1. With the initial AAPOR list and list from the conference, we have 372 members (291 General, 81 students).
  2. Tentative tasks for 2023

Not for Profit Annual Report filing

Cvent billing – Should we drop our other platforms?

  1. Communications & Website                     (Benjamin)
  2. Newsletter
  3. Social Media posts
  4. Website updates


Benjamin, Patrick and Justine to meet to discuss.  Benjamin will be taking on the leadership of both roles, and we’ll have a supporting team.


We’ll also be working to ensure that all access and passwords are centralized and part of the annual council transition plan so that they don’t fall to one person repeatedly, or are held by one person (in the event they’re unavailable).  

We’ve started a google doc with all the accounts we hold and password info/password owners.  This will fall to website and communications to pass on to successors.  

We need to decide on whether we will use Facebook and/or Twitter moving forward to connect with our membership.  Let’s make this a point of discussion next month.  Benjamin notes that we’re not particularly productive on social media, so pivoting is unlikely to have a key impact.  We can ask folks what they want to see on the survey.

We will have a spring newsletter in March or so, Benjamin to put it together and make the call for submissions in late January/early February.

  1. Member Survey Subcommittee
  2. Timeline & Staffing (Justine)

We have a small subcommittee that will work on this over the next month or two for March launch.

  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee (Paul & Curtiss)
  2. Planning initial meeting? 

Nothing yet, will be meeting and working on this.

  1. Sponsorship
  2. Kevin sent out thank yous (Kevin)

Kevin has them out to Gold and will be sending to the rest in the coming month.  

This spring we’ll also work on targeting new potential sponsors.  This is a good opportunity to overlap with the goals this year and theme of the conference of expanding our networks and reach.

  1. Online Learning Committee           (Rebecca)
  2. Goals for 2023
  3. Requested resources/access update 
  4. Sharing out recordings–modified Zoom recording?  Box?  Google Drive?

OLC has been hard at work getting the January webinar up and running.  Upcoming webinars and series are in the works, and looking to offer hands-on training (e.g., software like Excel🡪SQL), where the complicated topics are made accessible for folks.  Other topics may include cover letters, presentations at conferences, etc.  There is also a clear targeting of students, although an attempt to focus on all MAPOR populations.  

OLC would like access to an email address (Patrick and Benjamin will work on this) and more control over comms generally, so there’s less go-betweens with other folks and the process is more streamlined.  OLC could also use a space to easily share edited (Zoom recordings often start before the actual session with content needing to be removed) with attendees, espeically when we’re doing extended sessions/registering folks across a series.

OLC and Patrick will communicate around topics so that OLC doesn’t step on the toes of conference planning.

  1. Other business
  2. In-person or virtual mixers in 2023? — TBD

Google account clean up: if you add things to the drive from your own Google account, it takes up your space.  If you do it via MAPOR, it goes against MAPOR space only.  This is key, especially with large files like recordings!   We might want to look into another storage/file option as well.  Even folks who are long off council have significant memory being used in their own accounts.

Council members

President – Justine Bulgar-Medina

Vice President / President-Elect – Leah Dean

Past President – Kevin Ulrich

Conference Chair – Patrick Hsieh

Associate Conference Chair – Jenny Marlar

Secretary-Treasurer – Lindsey Witt-Swanson

Sponsorship Coordinator –Kevin Ulrich

Student Liaison – Curtiss Engstrom

Communications & Website Chair – Benjamin Schapiro

Members at Large – Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook, Paul DiPerna, Shalise Ayromloo

Proposed Committees

Conference Committee – Patrick, Jenny, Shalise 

Membership Survey Committee–Justine, Leah, Lindsey, Curtiss, Benjamin

Online Learning Committee – Rebecca Powell (Chair),  Erin Heiden, Jerry Timbrook

Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Paul DiPerna, Curtiss Engstrom

Secretary-Treasurer Support – Lindsey Witt-Swanson, Justine Bulgar-Medina

Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Curtiss Engstrom, Leah Dean

MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes – December 2022

Benjamin Schapiro

MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH:  Our MAPOR Spotlight of the Month is for Conference Chairs Leah and Patrick and the entire supporting crew who made the Conference a successful event! Thanks to all for your hard work and your service to MAPOR.  

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: Justine, Ben, Curtiss, Kevin, Rebecca, Leah, Paul, Patrick, Lindsey, and Erin

  1. Welcome Executive Council! 
    1. New members: Paul DiPerna, Curtiss Engstrom, Shalise Ayromloo, Jenny Marlar
    2. Introductions
  1. MAPOR documents and procedures
    1. Vision and Mission Statements: https://www.mapor.org/about/mapor-mission-vision/
    2. Bylaws: https://www.mapor.org/bylaws-as-amended-august-10-2018/
    3. Robert’s Rules of Order: https://www.boardeffect.com/blog/roberts-rules-of-order-cheat-sheet/
  1. 2022-2023 Council Transition           (Justine/All)
    1. Monthly meeting schedule
      1. MLK day meeting has been moved
      2. President’s Day meeting has been moved
      3. Juneteenth meeting has been moved

 

  1. Proposed committees/Revisions to committee structure (listed below and for discussion)
    1. Communication/Website

Updates website, maintains technical assets, oversees and disseminates newsletter

  1. Ongoing Online Learning Committee Updates

We discussed a new ad hoc group to take on the membership survey, which would be chaired by Justine and include Lindsey, Curtiss, someone from the communication committee, and Leah.

  1. 2021 Conference Debrief                         (Leah/Patrick/All)
    1. General Discussion about the hybrid model

Leah does not believe the virtual presentations are worth continuing. Presenters appreciated it, but it was a struggle on the moderator side. Patrick is likely not going to include the virtual presenter options in 2023. Need to consider if short course ideas will bring in enough participants to pay for the speaker costs. Also discussed raising the short course rates again to pre-COVID rates. Otherwise, everyone was happy with the speakers and happy to be back in-person. For next year, try to stop using Lakeview. It’s either too hot or loud.

  1. All expenses paid?
    1. Hotel
    2. Tech rental 
    3. Speakers 
    4. Student award winners
    5. Student grants 

Everything is paid but one speaker. Lindsey will pay her this week. 

  1. Thank you notes to sponsors 

Kevin will send out thank you’s. 

  1. Business meeting items?

Some members suggested moving the lunch back to conference space. We have membership survey data showing people like the atrium. Maybe add MAPOR table tents and make sure there are enough tables and chairs when the conference begins. 

  1. 2023 Conference             (Patrick)
    1. Conference support committee 
    2. Check with hotel about 2021 contract plans
    3. Review of Conference Survey data for next month’s meeting?

Patrick wants to reach out to research organizations who do not typically need attend. 

  1. Secretary Treasurer’s Report                     (Lindsey)
    1. Financial updates
      1. Banking: $18,735.05
      2. Savings: $47,212.24
    2. Membership list updates
    3. Tentative tasks for 2023
      1. Member survey for 2023?
      2. Not for Profit Annual Report filing

Lindsey hope to works on the membership list between Christmas and New Year’s. Lindsey’ 2023 goals are to submit and get approval for the State of Illinois tax exemption and get the remainder payment scenarios into Cvent so we can cancel Authorize.net and iAccess.

The group approved contributing $1,500 for the AAPOR All Chapter Party.

  1. Communications/Website               (Benjamin)
    1. Engagement plan/strategy 
    2. Spring newsletter
    3. Updates with new members

Benjamin needs a log in to Word Press. We need to have a conversation about whether we continue with Twitter. Justine and Ben will determine the 2023 newsletter timings. We also discussed sending mini-newsletters instead of the four, traditional newsletters. Kevin will think about what that means for sponsorships.

  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee
    1. Set meeting and goals for 2023
    2. Tentative tasks for 2023
      1. Review Conference Feedback 
      2. Evaluate Student Fellowship Program
      3. Evaluate Student Grants Program
  1. Sponsorship   (Kevin)
  1. Online Learning Committee   (Rebecca)
    1. Set meeting to discuss goals for 2023
    2. Webinars
    3. Other events? 
      1. Resume review? 
      2. Speed networking?

Rebecca asked for an online learning committee email address. Lindsey offered to host a Cvent training. Patrick will see to whom he designated the webinar email address. Lindsey can create a Cvent account with it when all the members of the committee have access to the email address. We discussed having a central place for account passwords. 

  1. Other business
    1. Mixers in 2023?

Council members

President – Justine Bulgar-Medina

Vice President / President Elect – Leah Dean

Past President – Kevin Ulrich

Conference Chair – Patrick Hsieh

Associate Conference Chair – Jenny Marlar

Secretary-Treasurer – Lindsey Witt-Swanson

Sponsorship Coordinator –Kevin Ulrich

Student Liaison – Curtiss Engstrom

Communications & Website Chair – Benjamin Schapiro

Members at Large – Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Jerry Timbrook, Paul DiPerna, Shalise Ayromloo

Proposed Committees

Conference Committee – Patrick, Jenny, Shalise 

Online Learning Committee – Rebecca Powell (Chair),  Erin Heiden, Jerry Timbrook

Awards, Grants, and Support Committee – Paul DiPerna, Curtiss Engstrom

Secretary Treasurer Support – Lindsey Witt-Swanson, Justine Bulgar-Medina

Communications Support – Benjamin Schapiro, Curtiss Engstrom, Leah Dean

GO MAPOR GO!

2023 MAPOR Spring Webinar Series

Benjamin Schapiro

Web Surveys 201: Beyond the Basics

Three-part series (or any single session):
Friday, April 14th from 11:30-1:00 CT
Friday, April 21st from 10:30-12:00 CT
Friday, April 28th from 11:30-1:00 CT

Register Here

MAPOR is excited to announce its upcoming slate of Spring webinars – Web Surveys 201: Beyond the Basics. In this three-webinar series, presenters will go beyond the basics of setting up a web survey, and explore more advanced topics: monitoring web survey data quality using paradata, detecting falsification in web surveys, and storing and retrieving survey data using SQL. These webinars will be held on April 14th, April 21st, and April 28th respectively. Read more about each webinar and note the respective webinar times below. Registration to this series gives you access to all three live webinars as well as access to a recording of each webinar for one price. The cost for MAPOR members is $20, $30 for non-members, and FREE for students.

Dr. Steven Snell
Principal Survey Methodologist
Goldman Sachs

Front End Survey Development For Data Quality

Our first webinar, Front End Survey Development For Data Quality,  Steven Snell from Goldman Sachs will cover advanced web survey options that will allow you to monitor and improve the quality of your data. Examples include page/block timers and built in items to assess response validity. This webinar will be held on April 14th at 11:30am CT.

About the Presenter:

Steven Snell, PhD, is Principal Survey Methodologist at Goldman Sachs, where he leads a research center of excellence to provide guidance to strategic research projects across the firm. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he led research consultancies at Qualtrics and Duke University, advising hundreds of survey research projects in brand, product, employee, customer, and marketing research for B2B and B2C clients. Steve’s expertise in survey and market research include questionnaire design, concept and product testing, segmentation, experimental design, brand tracking, and longitudinal research.

He holds a PhD in Politics from Princeton University and attained further training in survey methodology as a postdoctoral fellow at the Initiative on Survey Methodology at Duke University. Steve is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and AAPOR’s Pacific chapter as well as the Market Research Council, where he serves on the executive committee as Secretary/Treasurer.

Ms. Emily Geisen
Senior Product XM Scientist
Qualtrics

Detecting Fraudulent Data in Web Surveys

In our second webinar, Detecting Fraudulent Data in Web Surveys, Emily Geisen from Qualtrics will share recent research and developments related to identifying and preventing fraudulent responses. Topics include digital fingerprinting, bot detection, attention checks, inconsistent data, speeding, NLP, and AI. This webinar will be held on April 21st at 10:30am CT.

About the Presenter: 

Emily Geisen is a survey methodologist and Senior Product XM Scientist at Qualtrics. She helps develop Qualtrics products and tools for researchers and insights professionals. Her current projects include fraud detection for online panels, usability testing, and accessible survey design layouts. Prior to her current role, she was a senior manager in Qualtrics Sample Science and Delivery unit, where she oversaw a team of project managers responsible for running 150 online sample projects per week. Ms. Geisen is the Editor-in-Chief of Survey Practice. She teaches Questionnaire Design at the University of North Carolina and she teaches Usability Testing for Survey Research at the International Program in Survey in Data Science. She is the author of the 2017 book, Usability Testing for Survey Research.

Dr. Scott Adams
Analytics and Insights Leader
National Business Furniture

Demystifying SQL

Interested in learning how to store your survey data in something a little more sophisticated than an Excel spreadsheet, but aren’t sure where to start? In our final webinar, Demystifying SQL: Learning a Lingua Franca for Data Professionals, Scott Adams, Analytics and Insights Leader at National Business Furniture, will walk you through the basics of using SQL (one of the most common programming languages for working with databases of structured data). After completing this webinar, you’ll learn the uses for SQL and be able to write basic SQL queries. No experience with SQL is required! This webinar will be held on April 28th at 11:30am CT.

About the Presenter: 

Scott A. Adams is an Analytics and Insights Leader for National Business Furniture (NBF), where he leads efforts to enhance marketing activities using advanced analytics, data visualization, and machine learning. Prior to joining NBF, Scott worked as a data scientist at several different organizations, including Nielsen and Northwestern Mutual, and taught data analytics courses to aspiring data professionals. Scott earned his PhD in Sociology, with a concentration in Survey Research and Methods from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2016 and currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his wife Liz and feline companion, Zazzles.