AAPOR
AAPOR is a 78-year-old nonprofit professional association serving over 2,000 survey and public opinion researchers across academia, government, and industry. It sets field ethics standards, publishes flagship journals, and runs the leading annual conference for the survey research profession.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1947
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What AAPOR does
AAPOR (American Association for Public Opinion Research) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional association founded in 1947 and headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, serving more than 2,000 members across academic, government, and commercial survey research sectors. The organization's primary deliverable is industry governance: it publishes and enforces the Code of Professional Ethics and Practices, the Standard Definitions for survey outcome rate calculations (currently in its tenth edition), and operates the Transparency Initiative, a disclosure framework requiring member survey organizations to publish methodology details including sample size, margin of error, weighting attributes, question wording, and survey mode.
AAPOR's product portfolio spans peer-reviewed publications (Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, and Survey Practice magazine), an annual conference (the 81st iteration drew 1,147 attendees and 51 sponsors in Los Angeles in 2026), a members-only AAPORnet listserv with archives dating to 1994, and continuing-education programming including webinars and short courses on topics ranging from questionnaire design to AI in survey methodology. Distribution is supported by seven regional chapters (MAPOR, NEAAPOR, PANJAAPOR, NYAAPOR, PAPOR, SAPOR, DC-AAPOR) and twelve affinity groups spanning global research, qualitative methods, and senior practitioners.
The business model is diversified across four core revenue streams: annual membership dues ($20-$270 depending on income tier), conference registration ($265-$1,020 per attendee), webinars (free for members, $45 for non-members, with institutional subscriptions at $1,500-$3,600), and short course fees. Notable members include Robert Santos of the US Census Bureau and Jon Cohen of SurveyMonkey, signaling credibility across federal and commercial survey constituencies. The organization is governed by an elected Executive Council and operates with a small professional staff (11-50 employees).
AAPOR firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- AAPOR
- Legal name
- American Association for Public Opinion Research
- Website
- https://aapor.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1947
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- AAPOR is a 78-year-old nonprofit professional association serving over 2,000 survey and public opinion researchers across academia, government, and industry. It sets field ethics standards, publishes flagship journals, and runs the leading annual conference for the survey research profession.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
AAPOR industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Professional Association Services for Survey and Public Opinion Research
- NAICS
- Business Associations (813910), Professional Organizations (81392), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)
Keywords
Where AAPOR is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
AAPOR business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Membership Dues: Annual membership dues ranging from $70 to $270 depending on income level. Employer-paid memberships are $270. Student memberships are $20 for first year and $30 thereafter.
- Conference Registration: Revenue from annual conference attendance with tiered pricing for members, students, and non-members. Early bird rates range from $265 (student) to $920 (non-member). Regular rates range from $315 (student) to $1,020 (non-member).
- Webinar Programs: Live webinars free for members; non-members pay $45. Members receive free access to the three most recent recordings. Institutional subscriptions available for organizations at $1,500-$3,600 depending on size and nonprofit status.
- Short Course Fees: Half-day in-depth courses taught by recognized survey research experts, generating revenue from professional development offerings.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Employer-Paid Membership |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Option A1 - High Income |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Option A - Upper-Middle Income |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Option B - Middle Income |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Option C - Lower-Middle Income |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Option D - Entry-Level Professional |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Option E - Early Career |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Option F - Low Income |
| Subscription | Annual | Student Membership |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Conference - Early Bird Member |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Conference - Early Bird Non-Member |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Conference - Regular Registration |
| Freemium | Monthly | Webinar - Member |
| Subscription | Monthly | Webinar - Non-Member |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels9 records
AAPOR product offering
Product offeringCore offering
AAPOR is a professional membership association that delivers membership services, continuing education, peer-reviewed publications, and industry standards to public opinion and survey research professionals. Its offerings include tiered membership with access to journals (Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology), live and recorded webinars, half-day short courses, an annual conference, the AAPORnet members-only listserv, the Career Center, and standards programs including the Code of Professional Ethics, Standard Definitions, and the Transparency Initiative.
Product overview
AAPOR (American Association for Public Opinion Research) is a professional association, not a single product company. Its offerings consist of membership-based services including peer-reviewed journals (Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology), Survey Practice magazine, webinars and short courses for continuing education, the AAPORnet members-only listserv, an annual conference, the Career Center job board, and standards programs including the Transparency Initiative, Standard Definitions, and Code of Professional Ethics. These products and services support public opinion and survey research professionals through education, networking, standards development, and career resources.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Transparency Initiative: An initiative designed to promote methodological disclosure through a proactive, educational approach that assists survey organizations in developing simple and efficient means for routinely disclosing the research methods associated with their publicly-released studies.
Products and services
- Public Opinion Quarterly (POQ) Gold-standard peer-reviewed journal covering public opinion, survey methodology, and related topics, available to AAPOR members.
- Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology (JSSAM) Peer-reviewed journal focusing on the statistical and methodological aspects of survey research, available to AAPOR members.
- Survey Practice AAPOR's magazine offering practical accounts and resources for survey and public opinion research professionals.
- Short Courses Half-day in-depth professional development courses taught by recognized survey research experts, covering topics such as NLP/AI in survey research, questionnaire design, cross-cultural survey methods, and data weighting.
- Webinars Live and recorded webinars on survey research topics with approximately 10 sessions per year, free for AAPOR members and $45 for non-members, with institutional subscription options.
- Annual Conference AAPOR's premier annual event bringing together public opinion and survey research professionals for presentations, networking, and professional development; the 81st edition drew 1,147 attendees, 160 sessions, 459 papers, and 86 posters.
- Career Center Job board connecting employers with professionals in public opinion and survey research, supporting career advancement for AAPOR members.
- Transparency Initiative Standards program that promotes methodological disclosure and assists survey organizations in developing simple and efficient means for routinely disclosing research methods associated with their publicly-released studies.
- Standard Definitions Comprehensive guidelines for disposition codes and calculating survey outcome rates across telephone, personal interview, mail, and web surveys, now in its tenth edition.
- AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices The association's code establishing ethical obligations for all public opinion and survey researchers, covering responsibilities to participants, clients, the public, and the profession, including disclosure standards.
- AAPORnet Listserv Members-only professional discussion forum providing immediate access to leading professionals in survey research, with archives back to 1994, delivered via email as individual messages or daily digest.
Quantifiable outcome
- 81st Annual Conference: 1,147 attendees, 160 sessions, 459 papers, 86 posters
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use AAPOR
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
AAPOR technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
AAPOR partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered sustaining sponsor and flagship partnership.
- Ipsossustaining sponsorIpsos is listed as a sustaining sponsor of the AAPOR 81st Annual Conference. As a major global market research firm, Ipsos provides financial support for the conference and gains visibility among AAPOR's professional community of survey and public opinion researchers.
- American Statistical Association (ASA)flagship partnershipASA and AAPOR collaboratively developed the Journal Scholars Exchange (JSE), a structured semester-based program preparing the next generation of researchers for careers in professional, industrial, and academic fields. Open to undergraduate students interested in survey and public opinion research, statistics, data science, or related fields.
- American Statistical Association (ASA)flagship partnershipASA and AAPOR co-sponsor the Monroe G. Sirken Award in Interdisciplinary Survey Research Methods. The award follows a four-year cycle with ASA hosting for two years and AAPOR hosting for two years. When ASA presents the award, it recognizes statistical and computer science contributions; when AAPOR hosts, social, psychological, and cognitive science contributions are emphasized.
- World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR)flagship partnershipWAPOR and AAPOR co-sponsor the Janet A. Harkness Student Paper Award recognizing emerging young scholars in multi-national/multi-cultural/multi-lingual survey research. The award honors Dr. Harkness, internationally recognized for cross-cultural survey methodology contributions.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
AAPOR competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- American Statistical Association (ASA): ASA is a larger professional association for statisticians that overlaps with AAPOR's quantitative and methodological membership. They co-sponsor the Sirken Award and the Journal Scholars Exchange, making ASA a direct adjacent peer.
- American Political Science Association (APSA): APSA is a larger academic professional association serving political scientists, a substantial portion of whom conduct survey and public opinion research. Its annual meeting and journals overlap with AAPOR's audience and methodology-focused programming.
- ESOMAR: ESOMAR is the global trade association for market, opinion, and social research. It is comparable in offering standards, professional development, and ethical codes for the survey research industry, with a more international and commercial-research focus.
- American Sociological Association (ASA-Sociology): The American Sociological Association serves sociologists who conduct survey research, overlapping with AAPOR's academic membership base. Comparable in offering journals, an annual conference, and ethical standards for research practice.
Direct peers
- Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO): CASRO (now part of the Insights Association) historically represented US survey research firms with codes of standards and ethics closely parallel to AAPOR's. It is directly comparable as a peer association serving the same commercial research community.
- Market Research Association (MRA): The Market Research Association represents the opinions and data collection industry in the US with a similar member-based, standards-driven business model. It directly competes with AAPOR for commercial market research members and overlapping ethics work.
- World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR): WAPOR is the international counterpart to AAPOR for public opinion research professionals. It is directly comparable in mission (advancing survey methodology globally) and already partners with AAPOR on the Janet A. Harkness Student Paper Award.
- National Council on Public Polls (NCPP): NCPP is a smaller US association focused specifically on disclosure standards for published public opinion polls. It is directly comparable in mission (promoting transparency in survey research) and overlaps with AAPOR's Transparency Initiative.
Others
- AAPOR does not have a direct PE-investable peer set: AAPOR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional association, so most closely comparable entities are other nonprofits (associations, learned societies) rather than PE-investable companies. The list focuses on mission-aligned association peers.
- American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Industry Council: The Transparency Initiative and disclosure standards frameworks at AAPOR are widely emulated. Comparable standards bodies (e.g., ISO, ESOMAR) operate as adjacent/ecosystem participants in the same standards ecosystem.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
AAPOR social profiles
Digital presenceAAPOR financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
AAPOR leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
AAPOR funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
AAPOR M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about AAPOR
What does AAPOR do?
AAPOR is a professional membership association that delivers membership services, continuing education, peer-reviewed publications, and industry standards to public opinion and survey research professionals. Its offerings include tiered membership with access to journals (Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology), live and recorded webinars, half-day short courses, an annual conference, the AAPORnet members-only listserv, the Career Center, and standards programs including the Code of Professional Ethics, Standard Definitions, and the Transparency Initiative.
Is AAPOR a public or private company?
AAPOR is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was AAPOR founded?
AAPOR was founded in 1947. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is AAPOR based?
AAPOR is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does AAPOR make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Membership Dues are the primary driver. The others are conference Registration, webinar Programs and short Course Fees.
Who are AAPOR's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are American Statistical Association (ASA), American Political Science Association (APSA), ESOMAR and American Sociological Association (ASA-Sociology). Direct peers are Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), Market Research Association (MRA), World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) and National Council on Public Polls (NCPP). Others are AAPOR does not have a direct PE-investable peer set and American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Industry Council.
Does AAPOR have an API?
No public API is recorded for AAPOR.
What industry is AAPOR in?
AAPOR's product category is Professional Association Services for Survey and Public Opinion Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHACAA, Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies). Its NAICS code is 813910 and its SIC code is 8600.