A free profession of survey research – just as a free press – serves as a corrective to a democratic government. A free survey research poses a threat to authoritarian regimes. That is why most authoritarian regimes try to gain control over research institutes just as they try to gain control over mass media. But also in many democracies, which guarantee freedom of press, survey researchers’ work is impeded by state authorities. The results of a 2012 survey conducted by the World Association for Public Opinion Research show that in almost half of the European democracies, the law obstructs the publication of certain survey results. [ZParl, vol. 46 (2015), no. 4, pp. 760 – 777]
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