METHODOLOGICAL OPEN DISCUSSION GROUPS (JOINT WAPOR/AAPOR SESSIONS).

The article focuses on several discussions, which are related to American Association for Public Opinion Research. A large number of methodological and substantive papers were presented and have been collected in the proceedings of the Congress. In a review of these articles, two major methodological problems were identified in the field of secondary analysis. Most survey organizations report that response rates are lower now than they were twenty years ago. This is often attributed to increased respondent resistance to surveys. In line with this diagnosis, steps have been taken to sweeten the interview experience and prepare the way for the interviewer. Many questionnaires appear to respondents to be unnecessarily long, repetitious ambiguously phrased and difficult to comprehend; this causes high refusal rates, high cost, a non-representative dwindling universe, and doubts about the validity of responses. This round-table examined the influence of television in providing normative inhibitors and facilitators for what may be called prosocial and antisocial behaviors.