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John Zogby, President of Zogby International, a well-known polling company, said that such complete non-transparency is a “violation of polling ethics.” Under the American Association for Public Opinion Research code, Section III, Standard for Minimal Disclosure: “Good professional practice imposes the obligation upon all public opinion researchers to include, in any report of research results, or to make available when that report is released, certain essential information about how the research was conducted. {B}At a minimum, the following items should be disclosed, Part 8 - Method, location, and dates of data collection.” There is a lot of info in the dissident voice article where Zogby makes this comment, but first check out American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan05/Landes0106.htm When you check out AAPOR you find Mitofsky was president there and what the Code of Professional Ethics and Practices are exactly Mitofsky worked as president of American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). He received AAPOR's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. http://www.mitofskyinternational.com/company.htm AAPOR is an association of about 1,600 individuals who share an interest in public opinion and survey research. Members work in a wide variety of settings, including academic institutions, commercial firms, government agencies and non-profit groups, as both producers and users of survey data. Election polling, collecting statistical data, conducting market research and improving methods for surveying individuals and institutions are just a few of the diverse research interests of AAPOR members. Code of Professional Ethics and Practices We, the members of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, subscribe to the principles expressed in the following code. III. Standard for Minimal Disclosure Good professional practice imposes the obligation upon all public opinion researchers to include, in any report of research results, or to make available when that report is released, certain essential information about how the research was conducted. At a minimum, the following items should be disclosed:
1. Who sponsored the survey, and who conducted it.
2. The exact wording of questions asked, including the text of any preceding instruction or explanation to the interviewer or respondents that might reasonably be expected to affect the response.
3. A definition of the population under study, and a description of the sampling frame used to identify this population.
4. A description of the sample selection procedure, giving a clear indication of the method by which the respondents were selected by the researcher, or whether the respondents were entirely self-selected.
5. Size of samples and, if applicable, completion rates and information on eligibility criteria and screening procedures.
6. A discussion of the precision of the findings, including, if appropriate, estimates of sampling error, and a description of any weighting or estimating procedures used.
7. Which results are based on parts of the sample, rather than on the total sample.
8. Method, location, and dates of data collection. http://www.aapor.org/default.asp?page=survey_methods/standards_and_best_practices/code_for_professional_ethics_and_practices For someone who was given a lifetime achievement award while president at AAPOR, he sure is not following the Code of Professional Ethics and Practices very well.
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