Allensbach Institute

Infobox Company
name = Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach

type = GmbH
genre = Opinion polling
foundation = 1947
founder = Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
Erich Peter Neumann
location_city = Allensbach
location_country = Germany
area_served =
key_people = Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
Renate Köcher
industry = Public opinion research
products =
services =
revenue = €8,500,000 (2005)
operating_income =
net_income =
assets =
equity =
owner =
num_employees = 100
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
slogan =
homepage = [http://www.ifd-allensbach.de/ www.ifd-allensbach.de/]

The Allensbach Institute, formally the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research or Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Polling ( _de. Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach), is a private conservative [cite news
author = Kelly, Suzanne
title = East-West divide lives on in German politics
url = http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1998/09/germany/east.west/
work = CNN
year = 1998
month = September
accessdate = 2008-02-07 ] [cite news
author = Vinocur, John
title = Electorate appears to forgive him the policy contradictions : Schroeder charms away the doubts
url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2002/09/19/germany_ed3__2.php
work = International Herald Tribune
date = 2002-09-19
accessdate = 2008-02-07
quote = ... the Allensbach Institute, which has long-time connections with conservative politics... ] [cite news
author = Schwarz, Peter
title = The crisis of the German Social Democratic Party
url = http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/jan2000/spd-j06.shtml
work = World Socialist Web Site
date = 2000-01-06
accessdate = 2008-02-07
quote = The Allensbach Institute ... is notorious for its proximity to the CDU...]
opinion polling institute based in Allensbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

History

Founded in 1947 by political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann and journalist [cite journal
author = Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth
year = 1980
title = The Public Opinion Research Correspondent
journal = Public Opinion Quarterly
volume = 44
issue = 4
pages = 585–97
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-362X%28198024%2944%3A4%3C585%3ATPORC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D
doi = 10.1086/268626 ]
Erich Peter Neumann, and modelled after Paul Lazarsfeld's "Wirtschaftspsychologische Forschungsstelle" at the University of Vienna,cite encyclopedia
last = Buckow
first = Anjana
editor = Bernard A. Cook
encyclopedia = Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia
title = Allensbach Institute
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=ox_gXq2jpdYC&pg=PA32&dq=%22Allensbach+Institute%22&sig=y6vMqVKTNmDX_3EymnkoKB-Zgxk
accessdate = 2008-02-04
year = 2001
publisher = Garland Publishing
location = New York
isbn = 978-0-8153-4057-7
pages = 32 ] the Allensbach Institute was the first public opinion research institute in Germany,cite news
title = Das Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach
url = http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2007/04/30/733125.html
work = Hamburger Abendblatt
date = 2007-04-30
accessdate = 2008-02-04 ] depending primarily on the sale of market research studies for financing. [cite journal
author = Katona, George
year = 1953
title = Survey Research in Germany
journal = Public Opinion Quarterly
volume = 17
issue = 4
pages = 471–80
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-362X%28195324%2F195424%2917%3A4%3C471%3ASRIG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S
doi = 10.1086/266476 ] The institute conducted the "first [post-war] inquiry to assess former Nazi support", [cite book
author = Johnson, Eric A., and Karl-Heinz Reuband
title = What We Knew: Terror, Mass Murder, and Everyday Life in Nazi Germany
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kjo__n_uEcAC&pg=PA327&dq=%22Allensbach+Institute%22&sig=X_o29g1PgfImhC0LTlRaEHzSAZ0
accessdate = 2008-02-04
year = 2005
publisher = Basic Books
location =
isbn = 978-0-465-08572-9
pages = 327 ] and was contracted by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1950 to carry out monthly surveys of domestic public opinion.

In 1988, political economist Renate Köcher, a former advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, became managing director of the institute alongside Noelle-Neumann, who was also the sole shareholder in the company. Noelle-Neumann transferred ownership of the institute to the Allensbach Foundation for Public Opinion Research ( _de. Stiftung Demoskopie Allensbach) in May 1996.

The Allensbach Institute is noted for providing the most accurate prediction of the results of the closely-contested 1998 German federal election. [cite journal
author = James, Peter
year = 2000
month = February
title = The 1998 German Federal Election
journal = Politics
volume = 20
issue = 1
pages = 33–38
doi = 10.1111/1467-9256.00108
url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9256.00108?journalCode=ponl ] [cite news
author = Erlanger, Steven
title = 2 Germans Tinge the Political Debate With Personal Attacks
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E3D61131F937A2575AC0A9649C8B63
work = The New York Times
date = 2002-09-14
accessdate = 2008-02-07 ] [cite news
author = Erlanger, Steven
title = Germans Vote in a Tight Election in Which Bush, Hitler and Israel Became Key Issues
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E0DA1639F931A1575AC0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
work = The New York Times
date = 2002-09-22
accessdate = 2008-02-07 ]

Activities

The Allensbach Institute conducts market, media and social research, as well as political opinion research, and has performed polls on topics ranging from participation in sports [cite book
author = Pfister, Gertrud
editor = Roland Naul and Ken Hardman
title = Sport and Physical Education in Germany
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=uOL9-_5ajZ8C&pg=PA175&dq=%22Allensbach+Institute%22&lr=&sig=HdjBMCoOCPOJsyFra2oELZ-BSg8
accessdate = 2008-02-06
series = International Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sport Series
year = 2002
publisher = Routledge
location =
isbn = 978-0-419-25390-7
pages = 165–90
chapter = Sport for women ] to "radio listening and newspaper reading habits" [cite book
author = Horkheimer, Max
title = Survey of the Social Sciences in Western Germany
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=PWoDAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Allensbach+Institute%22&dq=%22Allensbach+Institute%22&lr=&pgis=1
accessdate = 2008-02-06
year = 1952
publisher = Library of Congress
location = Washington, D.C.
pages = 81 ] to support for a European monetary union and economic and monetary union. [cite book
author = Le Gloannec, Anne-Marie
editor = Paul B. Stares
title = The New Germany and the New Europe
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Q1d3OKCpEFIC&pg=PA263&dq=%22Allensbach+Institute%22&lr=&sig=on0Ypsc-BCMBk4jtXA5kwksapXQ
accessdate = 2008-02-06
year = 1992
publisher = Brookings Institution Press
location = Washington, D.C.
isbn = 978-0-8157-8137-0
pages = 251–78
chapter = The Implications of German Unification for Western Europe ] Deborah Ascher Barnstone, in a study of transparency in politics and architecture in Germany, asserted that the range of subjects covered by the Allensbach Institute makes it "an excellent source for information on the [German] general populace". [cite book
author = Barnstone, Deborah Ascher
title = The Transparent State: Architecture and politics in postwar Germany
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=OHgNWGQDRtkC&pg=PA212&dq=%22Allensbach+Institute%22&lr=&sig=GoMpNMd-DO2844klJATTpa2UhuA
accessdate = 2008-02-06
year = 2005
publisher = Routledge
location =
isbn = 978-0-415-70019-1
pages = 212
quote = For each study, the institute questions thousands of Germans on every subject imaginable from history to politics to women's issues to immigration policy. It is, therefore, an excellent source for information on the general populace. ]

The institute employs roughly one hundred full-time employees, including about 25 scientists, and two thousand avocational interviewers, and conducts approximately one hundred surveys and 80,000 interviews yearly. Although the institute conducts surveys primarily of German public opinion, it has participated in or carried out multiple "international opinion research projects".

See also

* European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research

References

External links

* [http://www.ifd-allensbach.de/ Official website]
* [http://www.statista.org/ Statista] (Publication and Analysis of Allensbach Institute surveys)