MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes – March 2022

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

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 & Kristen Conrad, SSRS

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

Kristen 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

MAPOR 2022 Call for Participation

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 Spring Webinar Series

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

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.

MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes– February 2022

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA
February 21, 2022
12:30 – 2:00 CST / 1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST
Zoom invite

Attendees: Kevin, Evgenia, Ben, Rebecca, Leah, Erin, Jerry, Justine, Patrick and Lindsey

MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH:  This month we spotlight Leah’s efforts to engage and negotiate with the Embassy Suites staff to review and renew our contract. Thanks for making this happen, Leah! This is not the most exciting task but is necessary to ensure we have a nice cozy, place to land in November for the next three years. 

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. 2022 Conference             (Leah)
    1. Conference support committee 
    2. Check with hotel about 2021 contract plans

Contract is done. There is a new contracts folder. Patrick is trying to get Daniel Merkle for the keynote. Leah has reached out to Jolene Smyth about the short course and Jill Dever for the pedagogy hour.

  1. Secretary / Treasurer’s Report (Lindsey)              
    1. Financial updates
      1. Checking: $26,767.94
      2. Savings: $46,972.38
    2. Membership list updates
      1. The new member list is done. A new list has been created in Cvent and MAPORnet is updated. 
      2. AAPOR should be reaching out soon with new members from the AAPOR renewal option.
    3. Tentative tasks for 2022
      1. Taxes are done
      2. Member survey for 2022?
        1. Lindsey has questions from Leah, and will dive into the survey tomorrow.
      3. Not for Profit Annual Report filing
        1. Lindsey will tackle this in May
      4. Cvent billing – Should we drop our other platforms?
        1. Lindsey will tackle this once the Member Survey is in the field.
      5. MAPOR address ‘move’ to NORC building
        1. CVENT- Lindsey will see if it needs to be done.
        2. Chase bank- Done
        3. IRS- Done
        4. State of Illinois- Sent a form in for this
  1. Communications                     (Benjamin)
    1. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1862vi9ewY7ytZTiF3Ok6w17NpWRacPmuN1cPd2Gd3c4/edit

is the MAPOR comms calendar for 2022. People should review, and feel free to make additional suggestions – I’m mostly basing it off of Justine’s calendar from the last couple of years, with tweaks for AAPOR in Chicago.

  1. Spring newsletter
    1. Conference Survey Results
    2. Conference Recap (non-survey, e.g. ‘how did it feel, from the conference coordinator perspective’)
    3. Upcoming Online Activities
    4. Any other topics?

The newsletter will go out in March, and will include a student section, announcement for the MAPOR fellowship program, and the conference survey results as part of the letter from the president. Please have materials to Ben by March 2nd

  1. Website                             (Hillary)
    1. Meeting minutes to website
  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee (Bob)
    1. Student fellowship program communications

MAPOR will communicate with fellows after the abstracts have been received so the fellows can be chosen based on the abstract topics.

  1. Sponsorship (Dana)
  1. Online Learning Committee           (Justine)
    1. Meeting to discuss goals for 2022
    2. Webinars
    3. Other events? 
      1. Resume review? 
      2. Speed networking?

The committee had a kick off meeting a couple weeks ago. Ideas include resume reviews, speed networking, lunch and learn. They plan to have three to five events a year, including an event or two that cater to students or mid-career. Their next step is to set up a regular meeting schedule and work towards something in April. If you have any ideas, please send them to the committee. Justine will send Lindsey a question for the membership survey.

  1. Student Award Criteria Review Committee – Allyson Holbrook

Kevin sent Allyson the survey responses on why people did not apply for the student paper. She may have a question to add to the Member survey. Kevin will pass that along to Lindsey.

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

Kevin will reach out to John to see if Madison is ready for a mixer.

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

GO MAPOR GO!

MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes– January 2022

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES
Bob Davis
January 24, 2022
12:30 – 2:00 CST / 1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST
Zoom invite

Attendees: Kevin Ulrich, Leah Dean, Benjamin Schapiro, Jerry Timbrook, Evgenia Kapousouz, Hillary Hanson, Erin Heiden, Y. Patrick Hsieh, Rebecca Powell, Justine Bulagar-Medina, Bob Davis, Dana Garbarski, David Sterrett

MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH:  The MAPOR spotlight of the month goes out to new members Erin, Ben, Rebecca, and Jerry. Welcome aboard and we appreciate your willingness to serve on the council! 

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. 

Meeting notes:

Meeting started 12:30PM Central

  1. Approval of last meeting’s minutes 

Approved by Unanimous consent.

  1. Conference Survey Data (Kevin)

Kevin reviewed Review of survey highlights

  • 201 surveys sent, 114 completes – 57% response rate.76% in person very

Conference Survey Highlights

Keving led a discussions about the conference survey.  Key areas include:

General conference satisfaction / attendance comparing in person vs virtual.

  • In-person more satisfied than virtual (76.1% Very Satisfied in person vs 45% Very Satisfied virtual), but the difference is less noticeable when looking at top 2 box (97.2% in person vs 87.5% virtual).

Discussion for 2022 conference in person vs virtual

  • Three main drivers for virtual attendance were concerns surrounding Covid, convenience, and scheduling.    Convenience factor is a good reason to offer a virtual offering.  10.6% would attend virtually and 9.7% would attend as a mix in the future.
  • Most people who would attend in person next year cite easing of Covid and dissatisfaction with the technology/experience as the main driver to return to in person.  
  • While the hybrid model does expand participation to those who were not able to attend, 44.4% of in person said virtual attendance ‘somewhat or significantly took away’ from the in-person experience.

Student support grants

  • 33/36 students did not participate in a student grant program
    • 21 were not aware of the program.  This provides an opportunity to educate students that funding is available.  There was general discussion about how to best reach out to students directly and/or through professors, mentors and other student organizations.  Justine mentioned that she has seen diminishing returns for communications because at some point the students are not getting/reading the alerts/emails.
    • 12 already had / didn’t need funding for the conference
    • 3 participated in the student grant program

Evgenia observed that this survey only addresses those who did come, not those who didn’t come so we are not informed to their reasons for not participating.  Dana also observed that putting this on the survey increases awareness of the program.

The results on the survey regarding the amount of out of pocket expenses student incurred was discussed.  Evgenia brought up that the need for money will vary greatly depending on the student’s location.  For example student’s in Chicago will not incur hotel expenses.  Patrick suggested that since the average out of pocket cost for students was $66 ($91 for those who spent some money) some students were likely not including hotel expenses in their calculations.  Kevin suggested that we may want to consider breaking out the expenses by category in the future.

Student paper

  • Allyson Holbrook is working on a subcommittee for student paper, potentially adding a ‘non-student co author’ category.
  • Evgenia suggested that we should start the process for discussing how we are going to do this next year.  For example defining the amount of contribution to determine if a paper has a  ‘non student co-author’.  
  • General feedback
  1. 2022 Conference             (Leah)
    1. Conference support committee 

Leah  researched the costs for maintaining Zoom licenses year round for the conference. The base pricing is $150 / year / license ( e.g. 4 = $600 / year,  5 = $750 / year).  This includes  1 GB cloud storage per license.  There are additional add ons for more than 100 participants – $50 per month more to expand to 500 participants.  This ‘large meeting’ feature can be activated on a month-month basis.  In addition there are expanded cloud storage options available that can be activated per month.  Rough estimate is that a year round Zoom license will cost $1000 / year to maintain Zoom as a sustainable add on.  This was provided for informational purposes only and was not voted on or approved by the council.  We will have a more formal proposal as we get closer to the annual conference.

  1. Check with hotel about 2021 contract plans
    1. Leah had questions about the level of detail of what needs to be finalized before signing the contract.  For example do we need to know if dinner would be plated or buffet, if the short course would be virtual / in person, and what the conference schedule would be. Kevin and David conveyed that the hotel is flexible and the contract is just establishing a reservation for the dates and a minimum $ spend.  Specific details will be identified later.
  1. Leah will reach out to hotel today for more details on contract and will reach out to members for ideas for speakers.
  2. Kevin – Guess is that they will secure the space and then punt the details as we get closer to conference.
  1. Secretary / Treasurer’s Report (Lindsey)                
    1. Financial updates
      1. Checking: $25,482.49
      2. Savings: $46,971.99
    2. Membership list updates
      1. Lindsay is working on compiling a member list.  Details discussed in next month’s meeting.
  1. Tentative tasks for 2022
    1. Member survey for 2022?
      1. Details discussed in next month’s meeting.
    2. Not for Profit Annual Report filing
      1. Details discussed in next month’s meeting.
    3. Cvent billing – Should we drop our other platforms? (Will be discussed in next month’s meeting)
    4. MAPOR address ‘move’ to NORC building (Will be discussed in next month’s meeting)
      1. CVENT
      2. Chase bank
      3. IRS
  1. Communications                     (Benjamin)
    1. Spring newsletter

Benjamin will circulate a draft of the spring newsletter to council by the end of the day today.  Will be reaching out for specific content for February newsletter.  Potentially it will be postponed pending member survey results.

  1. Website                           (Hillary)
    1. Updates

Hillary – New members will be updated today on the council page and will apply WordPress updates.

The question came up as to whether Hillary should be applying updates to the WordPress database / addons.  Patrick (2021 webmaster) informed the council that each month you log in there will always be messages to upgrade and spam messages.  He spent time last year reducing the number of plugins to only those used by the website.  The webmaster should feel free to accept updates unless you see something that requires additional payments.

  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee
    1. Meeting on January 11

Bob & Evgenia met with Mentors / students to discuss the experience with the MAPOR Fellowship program.  The overall experience was positive.  Bob will meet with 1 more mentor later today and will provide a more detailed report.  In general the timing of the program was sufficient, although Evngenia proposed that we need to balance giving the students more time to apply (potentially accepting applications into March or April) against having enough time in the program to deliver something for the conference in November.  Bob suggested providing additional structure would help the program.  Evgenia added that the structure still needs to be flexible to allow room for individualization.

  1. Sponsorship (Dana)

Sponsorship calendar doesn’t really start until June.  John will provide additional notes to allow documentation to stand alone as it move from past president to past president.

  1. Online Learning Committee           (Justine)
    1. Meeting to discuss goals for 2022
    2. Webinars
    3. Other events? 
      1. Resume review? 
      2. Speed networking?

We are going to start with speed networking as our first event for Feb/March.  Goal for committee is to do something every 4-6 weeks in spring, slow down in the summer and pick up in fall.

  1. Other business
    1. Mixers in 2022?

Timing is uncertain.  Kevin challenged the group to think about how can we piggyback to other events / conferences.  AAPOR has so much built around it already we should think about other conferences with which we can have a breakout dinner.  Justine added that we can consider adding on to virtual events in addition to in person.

New Business

Patrick led up a discussion about potentially adding job announcements as a service to our sponsors. 

Kevin – Concerned about timeliness of information and suggest that we post to AAPORnet.  Evgenia posed that rather than posting information we post the job application directly so that if the job is closed the link will say so.  Benjamin added that we could consider using social media but we should also consider the implications of MAPOR providing  an ‘endorsement’ of the position and how it might upset some people / companies.  Kevin suggested that we might be able to mitigate this through the inclusion of a disclaimer.  The net recommendation was that we should steer these opportunities to AAPORnet and MAPORnet.

Meeting adjourned at 1:21PM Central

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

GO MAPOR GO!

MAPOR Council Public Meeting Minutes– December 2021

MAPOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MONTHLY MEETING AGENDA
December 20, 2021
12:30 – 2:00 CST / 1:30 pm – 3:00pm EST
Zoom invite

Attendees: Kevin Ulrich, Lindsey Witt-Swanson, Leah Dean, Y. Patrick Hsieh, Benjamin Schapiro, Rebecca Powell, Erin Heiden, Hilary Hanson, Justine Bulagar-Medina, Bob Davis, Jerry Timbrook, Dana Garbarski, and Evgenia Kapousouz

MAPOR SPOTLIGHT of the MONTH:  Our MAPOR Spotlight of the Month is for Conference Chairs David Sterrett and Leah Dean 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:

  1. Welcome Executive Council! 
    1. New members: Erin Heiden, Rebecca Powell, Ben Shapiro, Jerry Timbrook
    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. 2021-2022 Council Transition           (Kevin/All)
    1. Monthly meeting schedule
      1. January 17th is MLK day. Move to 24th?

Will meet 1/24 instead

  1. February 21st is President’s Day. Will meet 1/28 instead. 
  2. June 20th is Juneteenth. Will move to the 13th.

Kevin will send revised meeting invitations

  1. MAPOR Google Group for group email (mapor@gogglegroups.com)
  2. Google Drive
  3. Website
  4. Revisions to committee structure – Committee members/new roles/transition meetings (listed below and for discussion)
  1. 2021 Conference Debrief                         (Leah/David/All)
    1. General Discussion about the hybrid model

A conference evaluation survey was sent the week after the conference. The survey had a 57% response rate. Leah would like to have Zoom licenses year-round to better facilitate the hybrid model going forward. This would allow keeping the recordings up longer than three months. Zoom could replace Go to Webinar as well. There was discussion about maybe upgrading one Zoom account to be able to host more users if needed. There could also be additional fees for storing recordings. PAPOR has a PAPOR channel to share recordings after the conference. The Conference Committee will get more information about the costs of keeping Zoom regularly, so the Council can discuss more next month. 

Kevin will share the survey data with the Council. One respondent asked why the conference was held on Friday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday. Council discussed the pro’s and con’s of each. Dana suggested decoupling the short course from the conference to wrap the conference up earlier on Saturday before the parade crowds develop. We discussed the networking lunch and how to make it more about “networking” than hanging out with your friends. Also, discussed coupling lunch with the awards or the short course.

  1. All expenses paid?
    1. Hotel – PAID
    2. Tech rental – PAID
    3. Speakers – All but one are paid
    4. Student award winners -PAID
    5. Student grants -PAID
  2. Thank you notes to sponsors

Sent

  1. Business meeting items
    1. Student Paper Criteria – Ad Hoc Committee to review criteria led by Allyson – Kevin to send some applicable Conference Survey data to committee

The conversation was around the role faculty can have on student papers. The fellows will work on this.

  1. 2022 Conference             (Leah)
    1. Conference support committee 
    2. Check with hotel about 2021 contract plans

The contract goes one more year. We will renegotiate the contract this year. 

  1. Review of Conference Survey data for next month’s meeting?
  1. Secretary Treasurer’s Report                     (Lindsey)
    1. Financial updates

Checking: $23,412.04

Savings: $46,971.60

  1. Membership list updates
  1. Tentative tasks for 2022
    1. Member survey for 2022

Worth doing, but maybe shorter than usual 

  1. Not for Profit Annual Report filing
  2. Cvent billing – Should we drop our other platforms?
  3. MAPOR address ‘move’ to NORC building
    1. CVENT
    2. Chase bank
    3. IRS
  1. Communications                     (Benjamin)
    1. Spring newsletter

Benjamin and Justine have met to understand what needs to happen. The plan is to have newsletters around February, April, summer, and October.

  1. Website                             (Hillary)
    1. Updates

Winners have been posted on the website. 

  1. Need to add new councilors and photos to websites

The Executive Council page is mostly updated.

  1. Awards, Grants, and Support Committee
    1. Set meeting and goals for 2022

Kevin suggested meeting earlier in the year while all their thoughts around the student paper are fresh and to get the student fellowship evaluation and 2022 application process going.

  1. Tentative tasks for 2022
    1. Review Conference Feedback Survey for January
    2. Evaluate Student Fellowship Program
    3. Evaluate Student Grants Program
  2. Sponsorship (Dana)
    1. Sharing contact information with AAPOR?
  1. Online Learning Committee
    1. Set meeting to discuss goals for 2022
    2. Webinars
    3. Other events? 
      1. Resume review? 
      2. Speed networking
  1. Other business
    1. Mixers in 2022?

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 Shapiro

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 Shapiro, Justine Bulgar-Medina, Evgenia Kapousouz

AAPOR Conference Committee – TBD

GO MAPOR GO!

2022 Student Fellowship Program

Deadline extended!!

The Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research is excited to announce its open call for proposals for the 2022 Student Fellowship Program. This is a unique opportunity for students to work with a MAPOR fellow and receive guidance on the development of an original research project. Students selected to take part in the program will be matched with a MAPOR fellow based on the topic of their abstract. The MAPOR Executive Council will choose up to 4 proposals for participation in the program and the selected proposals will be accepted for presentation during the 2022 MAPOR Conference. Each selected student will be awarded $250 and the conference registration will be waived for the authors of the selected proposals. 

Eligibility

All students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program on April 17th, 2022 are eligible to participate in the program. If more than one author plans to collaborate, please make sure that all authors are students. The topic of the proposed papers should be related either to public opinion or survey methodology. If the students propose a quantitative study, please, make sure you have access to the data before you submit a proposal. Membership in MAPOR is not required to participate, but students are expected to be MAPOR members at the time of the conference. Preferably, students can submit one proposal as the primary author. Preferably, the participants will attend the conference in person. Students who will be selected for the Student Fellowship Program will not be eligible for the student paper award during this year, but they will be eligible for travel awards.

Procedure

To be considered please submit a proposal to the MAPOR Executive Council for the Student Fellowship Program. The proposal should be between 500 and 1000 words. It should include a very brief literature review and an importance statement. If the proposal is quantitative, please make sure you identify and describe the dataset. Send the proposal by 11:59 CDT, Sunday, April 17th, 2022. In the email include a subject line that says “MAPOR Student Fellowship Program”. In addition, the student should identify a faculty mentor and ask them to write a letter of recommendation. Both the student proposal and the letter of recommendation should be sent to Kevin Ulrich, ulrichkv@uchicago.edu. The selected students for the Fellowship Program will be announced by May 1st.

Students’ responsibilities

The selected students will be responsible for their communication with their mentor. MAPOR Executive Council will suggest a communication plan. However, the students that will be selected for the Student Fellowship Program can suggest a different communication plan if they wish. Both the student and the mentor should agree upon the communication plan in writing and the communication plan should also be emailed to Kevin Ulrich. The students are expected to work on the paper with the guidance of the mentor. In addition, the students who will be selected will be required to present their paper in MAPOR 2022.

If you have any questions, please email us at ekapou2@uic.edu.