Polling Society admitted to national organization

The Emerson College Polling Society (ECPS) has been named a Charter Member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Transparency Initiative—joining the ranks of more than 20 top polling organizations, including the Pew Research Center, the Gallup Organization, and the Washington Post.

AAPOR is the leading professional organization of public opinion and survey research professionals in the United States, with members from academia, media, government, the nonprofit sector, and private industry.

ECPS is currently conducting a survey in Massachusetts on the public’s attitudes toward Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics, the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl appearance, and other issues.

 “Joining the Transparency Initiative demonstrates ECPS’s understanding and commitment to proper disclosure of the surveys we conduct,” said Hannah Ritter ’16, a Communication Studies major and co-president of ECPS.

Ritter said ECPS plans to exceed the initiative’s transparency requirements by releasing the raw data for its survey research.

“It’s all about credibility,” she said.

Former ECPS president Aishawarya Ramani ’14, who recently graduated from Emerson, led the student-run polling group’s effort to join the Transparency Initiative.

“This reflects ECPS’s commitment to transparency in our research methods and our pledge to abide by AAPOR’s Code of Professional Ethics and Practices,” Ramani said.

Scholar-in-Residence Spencer Kimball is faculty advisor of ECPS.