AAPOR Responds to RNC

AAPOR President Peter Miller has written to the chairman of the Republican Party to express AAPOR's dismay at its recent fundraising scheme.  It is a clear example of "frugging" - fund-raising under the guise of research. AAPOR has long been on record in opposition to this practice.

AAPOR condemns certain misleading practices sometimes performed in the name of research. In no case is requiring a monetary payment or soliciting monetary contributions from members of the public as part of a research process legitimate or acceptable in professionally conducted research.

This practice amounts to fund-raising under the guise of research. It takes unfair advantage of the cooperative attitude that many people display when asked to take part in a legitimate
information-gathering process. In some cases, unwary members of the public are enticed to contribute money as a condition of gaining some future "benefit" from their participation.

"Frugging" is historically ubiquitous and bipartisan. For many years, both major political parties and many other interests have engaged in the practice of cloaking a fund-raising appeal in what appears to be a research effort. The practice, of course, undercuts the legitimacy of our profession, no matter who employs it.

The decennial Census is to be conducted in a few months, with "Census Day" being April 1.So the RNC's misuse of the word "Census" is particularly flagrant given the timing.The use of the Census label is particularly lamentable, though apparently legal. There is potential damage to participation in the real Census if U.S. residents who receive the fund raising appeal come to view the Census mailing as partisan or as just another piece of "junk mail."  For this reason, President Miller has pointed out to Chairman Steele that the "Republican Census" is an egregious violation of the principle that research and fund-raising should not be mixed. 

Read Peter Miller's letter to the RNC. 

 




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