2025 MAPOR Spring Webinar Series

Benjamin Schapiro

Political Polling Insights for Survey Professionals: Margins, Metrics, and Methodology

Friday, April 11th, 1-2pm CT: Polling 101: The Who, What, Why, and How of Modern Political Polling?

Friday, April 25th, 12-1 CT: New Measures of Selection Bias for Pre-Election Polling

Friday, May 2nd 12-1pm CT: Election Polling in the “Blue Wall”: Lessons from Michigan and Wisconsin

Register Here

The Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research (MAPOR) is pleased to announce “Political Polling Insights for Survey Professionals: Margins, Metrics, and Methodology” a three-part webinar series offering a deep dive into the world of political polling. While not all survey professionals work in political contexts, the challenges, innovations, and lessons emerging from election polling offer valuable insights for the broader survey community.

Whether you’re looking to sharpen your methodological toolkit with lessons learned from political polling or better understand how election polling intersects with your work, this series brings timely, relevant perspectives to the table for any survey professional.

This webinar is free for MAPOR members and all students.

Polling 101: The Who, What, Why, and How of Modern Political Polling?

Friday, April 11th, 1-2pm CT

In this webinar, we will cover the basics of modern political polling. We’ll discuss the types of polls that are often conducted, the methods and modes that are often used, and the unique challenges and opportunities that face the polling industry. We’ll situate political polling in the total survey error framework, assess the overall accuracy of the polling industry in recent years, and discuss nonresponse bias and changes people in the industry have made to address it.

Joy WilkeJoy Wilke is the Polling Director at Blue Labs, a progressive data and analytics firm. At Blue Labs, Joy’s team is responsible for survey data collection across the organization, where they work on everything from questionnaire design, sampling, weighting, programming, and budgeting. She’s worked in polling for 13 years, and has previously held polling positions at Civis Analytics, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Gallup Organization. Joy has her Master’s in survey methodology from the University of Michigan, and her PhD in political science from UCLA.

New Measures of Selection Bias for Pre-Election Polling

Friday, April 25th, 12-1 CT

Recent developments in survey statistics have yielded simple, novel measures of the non-ignorable selection bias in estimates of means, proportions, and regression coefficients that may arise due to deviations from ignorable sample selection, where these deviations might be introduced by the sampling mechanism (e.g., non-probability sampling) or survey nonresponse. This webinar will review the computation of these indicators, the data required to compute them, software tools for computing them, and examples of their use and interpretation based on real survey data. An illustration of the use of these measures to assess the selection bias in pre-election polls conducted for the 2020 presidential election will be presented, followed by discussion of the results and suggestions for future research.

Brady WestBrady T. West is a Research Professor in the Survey Methodology Program, located within the Survey Research Center at the Institute for Social Research on the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (U-M) campus. He earned his PhD from the Michigan Program in Survey and Data Science in 2011. Before that, he received an MA in Applied Statistics from the U-M Statistics Department in 2002, being recognized as an Outstanding First-year Applied Masters student, and a BS in Statistics with Highest Honors and Highest Distinction from the U-M Statistics Department in 2001. His current research interests include the implications of measurement error in auxiliary variables and survey paradata for survey estimation, selection bias in surveys, responsive/adaptive survey design, interviewer effects, and multilevel regression models for clustered and longitudinal data. He is the lead author of a book comparing different statistical software packages in terms of their mixed-effects modeling procedures (Linear Mixed Models: A Practical Guide using Statistical Software, Third Edition, Chapman Hall/CRC Press, 2022), and a second book entitled Applied Survey Data Analysis (with Steven Heeringa and Pat Berglund), the third edition of which will be published by CRC Press in April 2025. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2022. 

Webinar 3: Election Polling in the “Blue Wall”: Lessons from Michigan and Wisconsin

Friday, May 2nd 12-1pm CT

Panelists: Emily Swanson (The Associated Press), Charles Franklin (Marquette University) & Barry Burden (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Moderator: Erik Nisbet, Northwestern University

A moderated panel of academic and industry experts will discuss polling performance in key Midwestern states, examining the forces that influenced outcomes and how polling methodology is evolving in these politically pivotal regions.

Emily Swanson is director of public opinion research at the Associated Press, where she directs AP’s polling team and election night decision desk. The decision desk analyzes vote returns, historical data, and the results of AP VoteCast, AP’s pioneering election research survey, to determine when AP officially calls the winner in elections across the country and explains to the world how we know. Swanson played a key part in the development of AP VoteCast. She also oversees polls conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. 
Charles Franklin (Ph.D, Political Science)  is Professor of Law and Public Policy at Marquette Law School, where he directed the Marquette Law School Poll, ranked 2nd of over 500 pollsters nationally by Nate Silver.  Prior to Marquette Law School was Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin Madison for 22 years before leaving to join the Marquette Law School in 2012. He is past president of the Society for Political Methodology and an elected Fellow of the Society. From 2002 to 2020 he was a member of the ABC News election night Decision Desk. 
Barry Burden (Ph.D., Political Science) is Professor of Political Science, Director of the Elections Research Center, and the Lyons Family Chair in Electoral Politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Burden’s research and teaching focus on U.S. elections, political parties, public opinion, representation, and the U.S. Congress. His recent research examines aspects of election administration and voter participation. Burden earned his Ph.D. at The Ohio State University and was a faculty member at Harvard University before joining UW-Madison in 2006.

2023 MAPOR Fall Webinar Series

Benjamin Schapiro

Survey Success Trilogy: Introduction to the Field, Networking, and Navigating Your Career in Survey Research

October 13th 12-1pm CT: What is Survey Research?

October 27th 1-2pm CT: How to Network in the Survey Field

November 3rd 12-1pm CT: Navigating the Survey Job Market

Register Here

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 $30, $60 for non-members, and FREE for students with a valid edu email address. In addition to these amazing webinars, students who attend will be entered into a raffle for a FREE resume review by Dr. Chris Timm of the University of Nebraska.  Each webinar you attend will be another entry into the raffle, so come learn about the field and get set up for success.  7 lucky students will win this opportunity.

Please share broadly, we are hoping to especially engage students inside and outside the AAPOR & MAPOR communities.

Brad Edwards
Michelle Amsbary
Jesus Arrue		Brad Edwards, Michelle Amsbary, and Jesus Arrue
Westat

What Is Survey Research

Our first webinar, What is Survey Research? led by Brad Edwards of Westat, will provide an introduction to the field of survey research, why it is important, and what a typical day in this field looks like. Brad and two additional panelists – Michelle Amsbary (Westat) and Jesus Arrue (Westat) will also answer questions from the audience. This webinar will be held on October 13th at 12pm CT.

About the Presenters: 

Brad Edwards is a Westat Vice President and Lead Scientific/Methodological Advisor in the Survey Research Sector. He has more than 40 years of experience in survey design and project management in health and healthcare financing, aging and long-term care. Methodological interests include multimode survey design, multicultural survey methods, total survey error, survey costs, and data collector staffing and training. He has led design and implementation of major face-to-face survey methods and tools, including video interviewing, CAPI, ACASI, CARI, mobile field management systems, and performance dashboards.

Michelle Amsbary is a Vice President in Westat’s Large Surveys Practice. She holds a Masters in Survey Methodology from the Joint Program in Survey Methodology (JPSM) at the University of Maryland and a degree in Sociology from the University of Virginia. With over 25 years of experience in all phases of survey research, including survey operations management, Amsbary directs surveys in energy and voting behavior, among others. More recently she has focused on business development activities, such as proposal development and internal training efforts.

Jesus Arrue, MS, Survey Methodologist. Jesus Arrue has 7 years of experience analyzing survey data, conducting literature reviews on survey methodology topics, performing data analysis, and assisting cognitive interviews. Arrue supports a number of projects on quality improvement efforts, as well as video interviewing.

Tiffany Neman
Brittany Creel
Ned English		Tiffany Neman, Felicitas Mittereder, Brittany Creel, and Ned English
University of Wisconsin, Meta, Abt, and NORC

How to Network in the Survey Field

In our second webinar, How to Network in the Survey Field, a panel of MAPOR members with a variety of backgrounds will talk about their experiences networking and answer questions from the audience. We are excited to have Tiffany Neman (PhD Student at the University of Wisconsin), Felicitas Mittereder (Meta), Brittany Creel (Abt), and Ned English (NORC) join us for this panel. This webinar will be held on October 27th at 1pm CT.

Tiffany Neman recently obtained her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently interning as a Survey Statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies (CES), where she conducts research on unit nonresponse and panel attrition using administrative records. Her research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals including Public Opinion Quarterly, Survey Practice, and Field Methods, and she frequently presents work at the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) annual conference. Tiffany also serves as the Student Representative on the executive council of the Pacific chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (PAPOR).

Brittany Creel is a Survey Research Senior Analyst at Abt Associates, based in Chicago, IL. She focuses on data collection operations, survey methodology, reporting, and data visualization. Prior to her role at Abt Associates, Brittany held research roles at Universal Orlando Resort and MMGY Global. Brittany recently began the Master of Science in Applied Data Science program at the University of Chicago. Previously, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Central Florida and completed the University of Georgia’s Principles of Market Research certificate program. When not working or studying, you can find Brittany on hiking trails with her dog, reading mystery novels, watching movies, cheering on the UCF Knights, or playing board games.

Ned English is a Principal Research Methodologist at NORC, where he has contributed to numerous studies, managed research projects, and led its Geographic Information Systems (GIS) group since 2002. English is considered a leader in address-based sampling (ABS) for single and multi-mode surveys, advising on studies across disciplines. He has also served as the lead methodologist on projects for clients such as the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute on Aging.  His work has been published in leading journals as well as book chapters and conference proceedings. English also teaches “GIS Applications in the Social Sciences” at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Prior to NORC, he worked as a GIS consultant implementing geospatial solutions for clients in the public and private sectors. He earned his M.S. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his B.S. in Geography from McGill University. Ned is also proud to have served on MAPOR council as President, Conference Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer over the past ten years.

Natalie JacksonDr. Natalie Jackson
Vice President
GQR

Navigating the Survey Job Market

The final webinar of this series, Navigating the Survey Job Market led by Natalie Jackson of GQR will focus on tips and tricks for cover letters and resumes, preparing for interviews (online or in-person), and other advice for ensuring a successful job hunt. This webinar will be held on November 3rd at 12pm CT.

Natalie Jackson, PhD, is Vice President at GQR. She has spent nearly two decades developing extensive expertise in survey research, methodology, and political polling. Her research on how people form opinions, as well as on the election polling and forecasting landscape has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and she has a weekly column on data politics called Leading Indicators at National Journal.  

Prior to joining GQR, she was Director of Research at PRRI and Managing Director of Polling at Just Capital. Earlier in her career, she held senior and management positions at the Marist Institute for Public Opinion and The Huffington Post. She is an active member for the American Association for Public Opinion Research, serves on the council for the National Capitol Area Political Science Association, and co-chairs the Careers Diversity Committee for the American Political Science Association. She is on the editorial boards of Social Science Quarterly and PS: Political Science and Politics. Natalie received her PhD in political science from the University of Oklahoma and was a postdoctoral associate at the Duke University Initiative on Survey Methodology. Her BA in political science and history is from West Texas A&M University. She has just published an edited volume, Non-Academic Careers for Quantitative Social Scientists, with Springer Nature.

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.