Institutional Framework and Founding Charter

Palestine Polling Center is an independent and politically non-aligned research organization working in public-opinion polling, social and economic research, humanitarian and development research, market research, evaluation, and data. It may work with diverse organizations without allowing a professional relationship to become dependency in judgment or method.

• Produce testable knowledge about people’s views, experiences, and conditions.
• Conduct commissioned studies and independent research initiatives.
• Develop context-appropriate methods and instruments.
• Collect, analyze, publish, or restrict data according to rights and protection needs.
• Provide advisory, training, and capacity development.
• Contribute to better public discussion, decisions, programs, and services.

The Center undertakes research for public, civil-society, academic, international, and commercial organizations while retaining full professional and methodological independence. The commissioner defines its needs and research questions; findings and analysis remain governed by the data, methodology, and professional standards.

• No predetermined result is guaranteed.
• A valid finding is not removed because it is inconvenient.
• Intervention changing the population, instrument, or analysis requires justification and documentation.
• Material commissioning, funding, and conflicts of interest are disclosed.
• Partnership or contract does not constitute endorsement of positions, policies, or activities.

The Center’s operational and legal structure should clearly assign responsibility for management, research, finance, data protection, publication, and complaints. Functions that may conflict should be separated where feasible, and material approvals and decisions documented.

• Institutional management responsible for direction, compliance, and resources.
• Research leadership responsible for methodology and quality.
• Clear data-protection and security responsibilities.
• Ethical review proportionate to risk.
• Mechanisms for conflicts of interest, complaints, and corrections.

• A clear question and legitimate purpose.
• Appropriate and justified design.
• Interpretable samples or data sources.
• Piloted, translated, and reviewed instruments where needed.
• Training, supervision, and quality checks.
• An analysis plan that reduces selective reporting.
• Internal review of figures, text, and tables.
• Disclosure of limitations and avoidance of unsupported generalization.

• Voluntary participation and appropriate consent.
• Withdrawal or question-skipping where applicable.
• Harm reduction and attention to security and social risk.
• Protection of children and at-risk groups.
• Minimization and separation of identifying information.
• Restricted access, deletion, or anonymization according to plan.
• No targeting, punishment, or reidentification using research data.

• Identify publication status: preliminary, final, revised, or withdrawn.
• Provide enough methodology to interpret findings.
• Distinguish Center findings from external contributor opinions.
• Correct and disclose material errors.
• Accept good-faith complaints and protect complainants from retaliation.
• Protect intellectual property, require attribution, and support responsible reuse.
• Review and update the framework when structure, risk, or requirements change.