At POLDEVSVY, our mission is to share and advance knowledge about survey research in developing countries, with a particular emphasis on political science research.  In contrast to survey research conducted in advanced, industrialized countries, survey research in developing countries can pose unique challenges for survey design and implementation. To name just a few such challenges: How can sampling be done without census information, addresses, or phone registries? How can we increase confidence that enumerators are who they say they are, and not government officials or foreign agents? How can illiteracy be overcome, especially when using self-administration and other methods for asking sensitive questions? How can tablets be used to survey populations who are not computer literate, are suspicious of technology, or where theft of tablets and enumerator safety is a concern?

In addition to these challenges affecting all scholars and practitioners conducting survey research in developing countries, political scientists face at least one additional major hurdle.  Compared with economic and health surveys, political science surveys can be especially sensitive because respondents fear that the state will punish them for activities such as vote-buying, support for an opposition party, or participation in non-violent and violent opposition movements.  This reality compounds existing challenges related to winning respondents’ trust, introducing technology and asking sensitive questions.

POLDEVSVY was founded to help political scientists working in developing countries respond effectively to these challenges and to “democratize” knowledge about appropriate survey techniques for developing countries within our discipline.  Innovative techniques to address the unique concerns of political scientists have emerged in the work of individual scholars.  However, this practical knowledge is typically not reported in journal articles.  Similarly, no centralized reference volume tailored to the concerns of political scientists exists, and such techniques are currently shared largely over informal networks.  Our goal is to make such knowledge available to all.

To advance this goal, POLDEVSVY includes a public member directory and a listserv.  The member directory will allow scholars to identify community members with shared substantive, regional or country expertise and thereby promote consultation and collaboration.  In addition, it will help increase the visibility of our community to policy-makers and potential donors.  The listserv will serve as a tool similar to the POLMETH listserv, where community members and non-members alike can ask questions unique to our enterprise.

In time, we hope that we will be able to expand the competencies of POLDEVSVY to include additional resources, such as a searchable survey question bank.  We appreciate your feedback as we grow, and we hope you will join us and make our community stronger.