NORC Senior Fellow Tom W. Smith has been named VP/President-Elect of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR).
Smith is widely known for his record of innovation and service to the field of survey research. In addition to serving as the director of the National Science Foundation sponsored General Social Survey (GSS), he is one of the founders of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), which allows the cross-national comparison of survey data.
Besides his involvement with the GSS and ISSP, Smith has been principal investigator on the National Gun Policy Surveys (1996-2001), the National Tragedy Study (2001-2002), the International Mental Health Stigma Study (2003-2009), and the National Paid Sick Days Study (2008).
Smith has authored hundreds of scholarly journal articles, reports and book chapters and he is frequently interviewed by the news media on such diverse topics as survey methodology, inter-group relations, happiness, religion, guns, job satisfaction, national pride, US spending priorities, and American sexual behavior.
Known since its founding in 1941 as the National Opinion Research Center, NORC conducts high-quality social science research in the public interest. To learn more about NORC, visit www.norc.org.
WAPOR promotes and improves public opinion research around the world. To learn more about WAPOR, visit http://www.unl.edu/wapor/.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
