Rothwell, Jonathan T. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9251-0029
Cojocaru, Alexandru
Srinivasan, Rajesh
Kim, Yeon Soo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7757-7858
Article History
Received: 13 June 2023
Accepted: 21 December 2023
First Online: 8 January 2024
Competing interests
: The authors declare no competing interests.
: Prior to fielding, the World Poll project was reviewed by Gallup’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and approval was granted in January of 2020. Gallup’s IRB is publicly registered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (IRB00004888). Documentation of this registration is publicly available on the agency’s website, by typing “Gallup” into the search box: ExternalRef removed. The names of the IRB committee members and their highest level of education is provided here: Lloyd, Camille (MS); Chattopadhyay, Manas (PhD); Rheault, Magali (MS); Houts, Jonah M (MBA); Marken, Stephanie (MA); Phares Sharon (PhD); Royal, Dawn (MS); Fernandez, Cheryl F (PhD); McMurray, Coleen (BA); Odle, Adam (Esq); Ford, Kenya (AA). The database used in this analysis has no personally identifying information. Responses are linked to individuals using a quasi-random number with no external meaning.As the scale of the coronavirus pandemic became clear in March 2020, Gallup paused global data collection to thoroughly assess risk and prepare contingency plans for data collection. By May, the continued prevalence of COVID-19 made it clear that there was too much risk of community transmission to conduct face-to-face data collection in 2020 for the World Poll. Gallup prepared a contingency methodology based entirely on telephone interviewing. In designing the new approach, Gallup prioritized the safety of interviewers and respondents, retaining high levels of representativity, and ensuring high-quality data collection. Countries were selected for inclusion based on client interest, their population size, phone penetration rates, and Gallup’s local partner’s ability to execute Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) aligned with Gallup’s quality assurance standards. With more than 100 countries included, the 2020 World Poll represents more than 90% of the global adult population. As a standard practice, Gallup and its partners complied with all government-issued guidance from local authorities and took this guidance into account throughout the interviewing process, including following social distancing measures for telephone interviews. Collection began in July 2020 with these issues in mind and Gallup’s weighting strategy adjusts for the mode of data collection. In July and August 2020, collection was exclusively phone-based, but gradually included face-to-face collection as the year went on.
: Formal consent was obtained verbally from all research participants in accordance with Gallup’s IRB standards. The database used in this analysis has no personally identifying information. Responses are linked to individuals using a quasi-random number with no external meaning. Gallup and its research partners obtain consent from every respondent surveyed. Both consent requests and the survey itself are conducted in the prominent local languages of each specific region, and the survey is conducted in multiple languages in many countries. The survey is only given to people who are at least 15 years old. The English version of the consent language request used in the World Poll data analyzed in the manuscript, read as follows: “Hello, this is _______ calling on behalf of Gallup. Your household has been selected as one of only 1,000 in the [country of respondent] to participate in a special poll about this country… Your participation in this survey is voluntary. Your information will be kept private and combined with responses of other people so that individuals cannot be identified. Do you agree to participate in the survey?” For countries where 15–17-year-olds are not considered adults, the interviewer also collects parental consent. Are you age 18 or older? If not, respondent is asked, “May I speak to your parent or guardian to obtain permission to interview you? Hello, this is _______ with ________. Your child has been selected as one of only 1,000 people in [country of respondent] to participate in a special poll about this country. May I have your permission to interview your child to get their thoughts and opinions about issues in this country?”