By Frank Newport
 
This year's 63rd annual 2008 AAPOR Conference provided an outstanding opportunity for AAPOR members to maintain and upgrade their professional status at the cutting edge of the public opinion research profession.  We also had the wonderful opportunity to get to know the extraordinary city of New Orleans – both its fabled “fun” side, and the resilient side resolutely recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
 
A major focus of the conference was the impact of the restructuring of the American population's telephone use patterns.  As we all know, the dominant survey research methodology using RDD methods applied to landline telephone exchanges is swiftly being challenged by the shift to exclusive or predominant cell phone use.  Seven separate sessions at the AAPOR Conference featured scientific papers devoted exclusively to research in this area.  A number of additional sessions focused in part on the implications of telephone use pattern changes.
 
Other provocative sessions dealt with combining and contrasting interviewing modes, the use of virtual interviewing, and a comprehensive review of new developments in television and radio ratings procedures. This year's conference also included research relating to broader issues affecting the validity of survey sampling and interviewing in a wide variety of contexts, including in particular issues relating to non-response.
 
All of these sessions underscored AAPOR members' interest in the core, methodological underpinnings of their profession, particularly important in a time of accelerating change in the research environment. Indeed, it would have been difficult for the conscientious Conference attendee to come away from New Orleans with anything less than a solid understanding of where the survey research profession stands at this point relating to the key methodological challenges we face.
 
The Conference included a number of papers examining the substance of public opinion.  These ranged across analyses of issues relating to this year's presidential election, attitudes towards immigration, news coverage of poll results, educational issues, public attitudes towards science, and many more. Sessions focused on the conference theme of "Polls for the Public Good" analyzed the way in which collective opinion can be used to inform and direct decisions that move society forward in a maximally effective way.
 
In that vein, the remarkable Thursday plenary session -- co-sponsored with Tulane University -- allowed members to share in the insights and observations of key public officials responsible for the recovery of the New Orleans area in the aftermath of the devastating effects of  Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, Louisiana Recovery Authority Chair Dr. Norman Francis, Federal coordinator of Gulf Coast Rebuilding Donald Powell, and Tulane President Dr. Scott Cowen discussed the role of public opinion in their decision making and recovery efforts. Separately, many AAPOR members were part of tours and briefings on the post-Katrina New Orleans of today, and came away from a new understanding of the challenges the city continues to face.
 
Members at the same time took advantage of the wonderful New Orleans spirit and ambience that was very much up and running full steam as AAPOR held its conference.  With the fabled French Quarter no more than a brief walk from the hotel's front door, and the riverfront, casinos, Garden District, and museums all close by, members were treated to a conference environment difficult to duplicate anywhere else in the U.S.
 
About 850 members took part in this year’s AAPOR Conference, one of the highest attended conferences of the decade.  More good news comes from the fact that over 200 of these were first time AAPOR attendees – boding well for AAPOR’s future.  All in all, the AAPOR Conference 2008 was an exciting, informative, and professionally rewarding three days of learning and sharing with public opinion research experts and colleagues.