AAPOR Censures Academic over Iraqi Poll

In the US, the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) has found an academic guilty of violating its code of ethics and practices, after he repeatedly refused to make public facts about his research into civilian deaths in Iraq.

Dr Gilbert Burnham, a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, published survey results in the medical journal the Lancet, in which he claimed that 655,000 civilians had died since 2003 as a result of the US-led invasion.

During the study, researchers spoke to more than 1,800 families comprising 12,800 people, comparing mortality rates in areas before and after the invasion. However, Burnham's figure was far higher than that estimated by the Iraqi health ministry, which put the number of civilian deaths at between 100,000 and 150,000.

After receiving a complaint from a member, AAPOR formally asked Burnham to provide information about his survey including the wording of the questions he used, instructions and explanations that were provided to respondents, and a summary of the outcomes for all households selected as potential participants in the survey.

In response, Burnham provided only partial information, but refused to provide complete information about the basic elements of his research.

AAPOR's President, Richard Kulka explained: 'When researchers draw important conclusions and make public statements and arguments based on survey research data, then subsequently refuse to answer questions about how their research was conducted, this violates the fundamental standards of science, seriously undermines open public debate on critical issues, and undermines the credibility of all survey and public opinion research.'

A spokesman for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said they were disappointed AAPOR had said Burnham violated the code of ethics, but pointed out that neither he nor the school were members of the association.

Web site: www.aapor.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.