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Past Events:

The Art and Science of Cognitive interviewing: A Short Course

Cognitive interviewing has emerged as an important step in the questionnaire design process, in both government and in private industry. In general, the interviewer conducts an ‘intensive interview’ that emphasizes the cognitive processing of survey questions, and that relies on verbal probing techniques to uncover flaws and limitations in evaluated items that would otherwise go undetected.

However, despite twenty years of experience with cognitive interviews, practitioners have yet to develop a set of ‘best practices’, and the activity is carried out in a number of disparate ways. Therefore, Dr. Willis will present a short course/seminar hybrid in which participants will first practice a cognitive interviewing exercise, and then go on to examine and discuss a number of unresolved issues. In particular, we will focus on...

• the details and dynamics of probing approaches (e.g., scripted/standardized versus flexible)
• methods for data collection and analysis
• expanded viewpoints that take into account the disciplines of psycholinguistics and anthropology.

The course is intended for those with at least a familiarity with cognitive interviewing, although it is not necessary to have had extensive experience. The course will be interactive, so that rather than simply lecture, Dr. Willis intends to engage participants in a more fluid and evolving type of activity that results in a greater appreciation for details and subtleties that are not often discussed in the literature.

Dr. Gordon Willis
Cognitive Psychologist
National Institues of Health

Location: Wallace Hall, Room 300
Princeton University

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"The Cell Phone-Only Population and its Growing Impact on Telephone Surveys: Evidence from Two Recent Surveys"

Cliff Zukin
Professor and Director, Public Policy Program
Rutgers University

Date and Time: Thursday, November 20
Reception: 5:15 PM
Presentation: 6:00 PM

Location: Room 300
Wallace Hall
Princeton University

Professor Cliff Zukin of Rutgers University discussed two projects from his recent research on the growing cell-phone only population and its impact on telephone surveys. He first presented the results of a dual-frame survey on health care policy, looking specifically at the differences between land line and cell phone samples of New Jersey residents. Then, using new data from Tuesday’s exit polls, Cliff talked about the growth and distribution of cell phone-only voters and first time voters in the 2008 elections.

Cliff Zukin was president of AAPOR in 2005-06 and worked for NBC news in the 2004 election and more recently for Edison/Mitofsky Research, who conducted the national exit polls on Tuesday.

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“The 2008 Presidential Election: Can the State Polls be Trusted?”

Date and Time: Tuesday October 7, 4:30 PM

Location:  Dodds Auditorium
                  Robertson Hall
                  Princeton University

Panelists:
Christopher Achen, Associate Chair, Department of Politics, Princeton University
Larry Hugick, Chairman, Princeton Survey Research Associates International
Andrew Gelman, Departments of Statistics and Political Science, Columbia University
Joe Lenski, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder, Edison Media Research

Co-sponsors: Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, The New York and New Jersey chapters of the American Association for Public Opinion Research

Synopsis: Pollsters routinely point to their industry’s long record of success in predicting the outcome of the popular vote for the U.S. president.  However, it is the statewide elections that matter most, since the president is chosen through the Electoral College and not through a national popular vote.  In close national elections, reliable state polls and insightful state-level voting analyses are essential parts of predicting electoral votes and the result of the Presidential election, as well as control of the Congress.  Given the likelihood of yet another close election in 2008, our ability to predict the ultimate outcome depends greatly on polls taken at the state level. But who is conducting these polls and how much does their reliability vary from state to state? What are the key demographic and social trends that really drive voting trends in the battleground states? Moreover, how will the statewide polls be affected by having, for the first time in history, a major party candidate who is African American?

Click here to view the web simulcast

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“The Student Global Village®: An Experiment in International Deliberative Discussion"

Roberta Fiske-Rusciano
Global and Multinational Studies Program
Rider University

Frank Louis Rusciano
Department of Political Science and Global and Multinational Studies Program
Rider University

Date: Thursday April 24 at 4:30 PM
Location: Wallace Hall Room 300, Princeton University

Following James Fishkin’s research and the National Issues Forums, analysts have discussed the effect and usefulness of deliberative discussions.  Most of this research has been directed towards the potential of such conversations to improve citizens’ participation in democracy, their understanding of political issues, and their ability to discuss issues in a knowledgeable manner with their peers.  While some research has suggested that deliberative discussions change attitudes to bring participants’ perceptions more in line with elite opinions on foreign policy, it is still unclear whether this is a good thing or if it has an effect beyond the confines of the discussants themselves.

The Student Global Village® is an experiment in international deliberative discussion designed to raise many of the same questions.  Here, two groups of students, from Rider University in New Jersey and the American University in Cairo, participate in difficult discussions via web-based videoconferencing.  They discuss issues of the stereotypes they have of each other, US/Middle Eastern relations, how to deal with the problem of terrorism, and how to bridge the gap between rich and poor nations.  The students share common readings, and participate in the discussions for one-and-a-half hour sessions, divided over twelve weeks.  The students are surveyed before and after the experience to test for changes in attitudes about various issues and their perceptions of each other.

The goal of The Student Global Village® is perhaps more ambitious than “promoting democracy” between the two groups of students.  As Hal Saunders notes in A Public Peace Process: “only governments can write peace treaties…but only human beings—citizens outside government—can transform conflictual relationships between people into peaceful relationships.”  Here, we suggest that the students’ changes in attitudes can actually be the beginning of a “seeds for peace” project, in the manner Saunders describes.  We also discuss the possible “ripple effects” such changes might have for future relations between our regions, and how the project can serve as a model for international deliberative discussions on difficult topics among other groups.

This project was partially funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation’s Difficult Dialogues Project.

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“CURRENT PRACTICES IN CELL PHONE SURVEYS: SAMPLING, OPERATIONS, AND WEIGHTING”

PRESENTED BY

JOHN HALL
MATHEMATICA POLICY RESEARCH, INC.

NJ AAPOR is very pleased to have John Hall present the most up-to-date information about how cell phones are impacting surveys. At the 2007 AAPOR conference, John co-taught the short-course “Cell Phones and Survey Research.” and provided leadership in the discussions related to the conference focus on cell phone panel presentations. Don’t miss the opportunity to catch up on this major and dynamic cell phone trend that could change the way you conduct your next telephone survey.

DATE: TUESDAY OCTOBER 30, 2007

RECEPTION: 5:30-6:00 PM
BUSINESS MEETING: 6:00-6:15 PM
PRESENTATION: 6:15 PM

LOCATION: Room 016
ROBERTSON HALL (LOWER LEVEL)
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

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NEW JERSEY CHAPTER OF THE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH
Wednesday November 29, 2006

WOODROW WILSON SCHOOL
WALLACE HALL ROOM 300
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

"CMOR's Respondent Cooperation Industry Image Survey"

What everyone conducting surveys needs to know about the public’s views of surveys

PRESENTED BY:
PAUL BRAUN
PRESIDENT, BRAUN RESEARCH, INC.

The Council for Marketing and Opinion Research’s Respondent Cooperation Industry Image Survey is a trending study conducted among members of the public. It aims to monitor and understand survey research respondent cooperation issues. The survey has been conducted previously in 2003, 2001, 1999, and 1995 to explore the following topics:

• Public behavior and attitudes with regard to survey and public opinion research (including the impact of telemarketing)
• Public attitudes toward confidentiality and privacy protections within the survey research industry.
• The penetration of telephone technology and its impact on telephone surveys
• The current impact of the Internet as a research tool

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"Envisioning the Survey Interview of the Future”

Michael F Schober
Professor of Psychology and
Dean of the New School for Social Research

Michael Schober discussed his recent research on the impact of new and emerging communication technologies on the survey interview and explore methods and criteria that can be used to evaluate these technologies.

Date: Monday December 11, 2006
Time: 4:30 PM
Location: Bowl 016 Robertson Hall

RealVideo: 56K 300K
WM Video: 56K 300K

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"Media Reporting of Public Opinion Polls"

On Tuesday, October 3, Gary Langer, director of polling for ABC News, will present a lecture entitled “When Polls Mislead: Setting Standards for Media Reporting on Public Opinion Surveys.”

Gary Langer is one of the nation’s leading news pollsters, known for the depth and acuity of his analysis as well as the breadth of his subject matter.  The first and only pollster to have been awarded a news Emmy, Langer has produced influential and groundbreaking surveys on politics, presidential elections, consumer confidence, health care, war and terrorism, education and more—including the first media-sponsored national public opinion polls in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gary Langer's lecture will focus on interest groups and public relations agencies that produce a steady flow of manufactured polls, designed not to assess public attitudes or behavior but to promote a product, a client or a point of view.  These kinds of polls are readily absorbed by the news media, filling newspapers and airwaves across the country with pseudo data that misinform and distort public discourse.  Langer will provide an overview of these kinds of “promotional” polls and discuss the vetting operation ABC News has put in place to try to elevate the standards for media reporting on public opinion.

The lecture will be presented at 4:30 PM in Robertson Hall, Room 016.  It is co-sponsored by the Survey Research Center, the Center for Study of Democratic Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

RealVideo: 56K 300K
WM Video: 56K 300K

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"Respondent Driven Sampling – A Method for Drawing a Representative Sample of Rare and Hard-To-Reach Populations"

A public lecture sponsored by the Survey Research Center, the Industrial Relations Section and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Douglas Heckathorn
Professor of Sociology
Cornell University

Thursday, February 9, 2006
2:30-4:00 PM
300 Wallace Hall
Princeton University

Thursday, December 1, 2005
5:30 PM Holiday Reception for Members
6:30 PM Panel Presentation

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"Insiders' Insights: NJ 2005 Election"

Murray Edelman: Star Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers Poll

Patrick Murray: Monmouth University/Gannet Poll

Peter Woolley: Public Mind Farleigh Dickinson Poll

Moderator: Harry O’Neill

Robertson Hall, Lower Level Bowl 1
Princeton University

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Joint meeting with the Princeton-Trenton Chapter of the American Statistical Association

Wednesday November 2, 2005

Presentations:

“An Overview of Multiple Imputation”
Dr. Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, statistician, RAND Corporation and a visiting researcher at Princeton University

“The Impact of Cell Phones on How We Conduct Telephone Surveys”
John Hall, Senior Statistician, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

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NEW JERSEY AAPOR CHAPTER MEETING

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2005

The New Jersey Association for Public Opinion Research presents:

Nancy Belden

AAPOR PRESIDENT

"Public Image of the Polls"

As the use of public opinion and other survey research becomes more diverse and extensive in the media, in policymaking, in business and elsewhere, AAPOR has a bigger potential role to play.  Defining that evolving role is a top priority for the AAPOR Council, and we are anxious for feedback from chapter members about it.  Some of our work is and will be educational.   We can educate users and consumers about the wonders of what we do, how to get the most out of it, and the pitfalls.  Another arena of concern is how we can effectively uphold standards for the profession.  Nancy will suggest some ways that our organization is already working and can move into the future, and seeks input from the NJ Chapter members.

Reception: 5:30
Presentation: 6:00

Location:
Wallace Hall Room 300
Princeton University
Woodrow Wilson School

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"Whose Morals? What Values? A Review of the 2004 Presidential Election Polls"

 Room 016 Robertson Hall
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Princeton University  

Monday, November 29 at 7:00 PM

Reception for NJAPOR members 6:30-7:00 PM

Exit polls in the 2004 presidential election seemed to indicate the importance of moral values as a key issue for supporters of President Bush.  When asked to choose from a list of seven issues what was most important in deciding their vote, Bush supporters chose moral values four times more often than Kerry supporters.  Some observers have suggested this result says more about problems that can result from a poorly worded survey question than about the ascendance of moral values as a key issue in the election.  Others argue, however, that the poll results may signal a key rallying point for social conservatives, a group whose power to sway the election may have been underestimated.

To shed some light on this controversy, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs has assembled a panel of experts that includes Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll, Gary Langer, polling analyst for ABC News, Murray Edelman, Director of Statistics in the Election and Survey Unit at CBS News, and Larry Bartels, Stokes Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics.

The panel presentation is free and open to the public.  It is co-sponsored by the Princeton University Survey Research Center and the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics.

RealVideo: 56K 300K
WM Video: 56K 300K

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The New Jersey Association for Public Opinion Research is proud to present

Roger Tourangeau

"Everyday Concepts and Reporting Errors"

Roger Tourangeau, co-author of The Psychology of Survey Response, will describe sources of comprehension problems in surveys, including problems stemming from the form of the question, its meaning, and its intended use.  He will also present some new findings that trace reporting problems to poor alignment between the everyday meaning of concepts and their use in survey questions. 

Sponsored by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Location: Shultz Dining Room, 1^st floor
Robertson Hall

Woodrow Wilson School
Princeton University

Date: March 25, 2004
Time: 5:30 Reception
Presentation: 6:00 

Sign-up for your 2004 membership at the meeting!