Peace poll methods and disclosure

Poll methods must be generally accepted as good survey practice and must be disclosed with the results of the peace poll, as well as with any analysis or subsequent public release of the dataset.

Items for Minimal Disclosure

These items should be disclosed with any peace poll report. Good practice would be to disclose as much of the methodology as possible, particularly those items marked with an asterisk.

*Sponsor of the peace poll
*Name of the polling company or principal researcher; prior experience (if any) in peace polling; and whether the data collector has any business or personal ties to political parties, candidates, political organizations or governmental bodies
*Name of the organization responsible for analysis, if different
*Those responsible for writing the questions and questionnaire design without compromising the anonymity and safety of key informants/research participants
*How and when the results of the peace poll will be published/disseminated
*Number of interviews
*Number of sampling points
*Sampling frame
*Geographic dispersion and coverage
*How sampling points are selected
*Where interviews are conducted: in public places, in person at homes, by phone, etc.
*Any legal/practical limits on data collection that might affect polling accuracy (e.g., restricted access to certain areas and/or communities by security services or ongoing fighting)
Time of day of interviewing
Whether interviewers are part of a permanent field staff or hired for the occasion
*How respondent anonymity is guaranteed (paper questionnaires, etc.)
The interview schedule or questionnaire and instructions
Which results are based on parts of the sample, rather than the whole sample
A description of the precision of the findings, including estimates of sampling error
Monitoring and validation procedures (if any)
Weighting procedures
Response rates (using one of the definitions in the AAPOR/WAPOR "Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys") and item non-response on questions
Any known nonresponse biases
General description of how estimates are made and the kinds of variables that are being used, and whether adjustments for non-response have been made
Known design effects
Interested parties may sometimes make claims about unpublished and/or private data. Any such claim also requires documentation, and any public statement referring to peace poll results should abide by these disclosure principles and requirements.