Surveyors move forward

I

have a treasured t-shirt, plain white, that says in front: If Things Get Better With Age Then I’m Approaching MAGNIFICENT! and at the back:

Pepe Abueva May 23, 2008 80!

It was the souvenir of the birthday party of Jose “Pepe” Abueva, given by his family. I had not used it for a while; it gave me kutob, as time went by.

Dr. Jose Abueva was an outstanding and modest political scientist, accomplished in many subjects. Perhaps few knew of his survey expertise, in which he had formal training when doing his Ph.D. at the University of Michiganʍwhich not only analyzes surveys, which all academics do, but also conducts them, and archives them; it has the world’s largest survey archive.

Pepe Abueva was an early pioneer, as was statistician Enrique T. Virata, of voter surveys (see the Philippine entry in “Public Opinion and Polling Around the World: A Historical Encyclopedia,” ed. John G. Greer, ABC-Clio, 2004).

Pepe was not just a moral supporter of Social Weather Stations (SWS). He hosted advisory meetings at the UP Executive House. He was in the SWS board for years. In 2003, at 75, he was with our team in Obernai, France, drafting the first questionnaire on Citizenship for the International Social Survey Program (issp.org). The ISSP surveys of 2004 and 2014 on the perceived rights, duties, and behavior of citizens are part of Pepe’s legacy to researchers worldwide.

SWS joins the Abueva family in grieving over the loss of the great Filipino social scientist, Jose V. Abueva (1928-2021).

The SWS 2021 general assembly. It was at last Wednesday’s annual assembly (by Zoom) of SWS Fellows that we received the sad news about our colleague Pepe Abueva. Fellows are the primary SWS stakeholders, with voting rights. They have graduate degrees, and know survey research. Some are on the faculty of major universities. Some are full-time SWS staff members.

The Fellows’ attendance was relatively large this year. I reported to them that SWS is in good condition. We went into mobile phone mode for our first three surveys in 2020, returned to face-to-face mode (which is definitely superior) later last year, and are back to almost normal operations in 2021. The SWS reports were fewer in the first half of 2020 (www.sws.org.ph), but did not slacken in relevance. By mid-2021, we are half-recovered from the financial deficit of 2020.

SWS’ international networking is wide. We have done all the ISSP surveys annually since 1991 without fail, and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems surveys in all presidential election years since 1998. We did four World Values Surveys in 1996-2019, though its questionnaire is so large that it requires external funding. We did five Asian Barometer Surveys in 2002-2018, subsidized by our partner in Taiwan. The Gallup Organization outsourced the Philippine part of its Global World Poll to SWS in 15 rounds since 2006; this helps us financially, but the data are proprietary to Gallup.

We have gotten awards from the World Association for Public Opinion Research, the International Society for Quality of Life Studies, and Gallup, for our research.

As of mid-2021, the SWS survey archive has 926 datasets, of which 426 are nationwide surveys, from 1,497,164 respondents, on 174,772 questionnaire items. The surveys began in 1984 (i.e. pre-SWS), with over two-thirds since 2004, when SWS established its own field staff and ceased to outsource any operations.

This collection is alive, growing every year, as well as priceless, since any portion, if it gets lost, will be absolutely irreplaceable. Datasets are purchasable, but may not be copied for resale or transfer; SWS has sole copyright.

SWS’ rule is that survey embargoes, if any, expire in three years after a project ends, and the data become open for research. This applies to all projects, commissioned or not. This is a treasure trove readily available to the SWS Fellows.

My report to the SWS Fellows this year was rather detailed, because I am retiring from the board. But SWS has much human capital, with veterans of from 10 to 30 years’ experience in place.

(I’m not at the age when Pepe Abueva neared magnificence, but haven’t lost hope.)

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