The Arab Barometer is a nonpartisan research network that provides insight into the social, political, and economic attitudes and values of ordinary citizens across the Arab world. It has been conducting public opinion surveys in the Middle East and North Africa since 2006. It is the largest repository of publicly available data on the views of men and women in the MENA region. The project has conducted more than 70,000 interviews over five waves of surveys across 15 countries in MENA since 2006. The project is organized through a partnership between Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and regional partners across the Middle East and North Africa. The project is governed by a Steering Committee including academics and researchers from MENA and the United States.
History
The project was founded by Dr. Amaney Jamal and Dr. Mark Tessler. The first wave was carried out across 7 countries from 2006-7. Fieldwork was overseen by Dr. Fares Braizat of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. The second wave covered 10 countries and spanned the events of the Arab uprisings. The result of the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia resulted in the expansion of coverage to include these cases. Fieldwork was overseen by Dr. Mohammad Al Masri of CSS. The third wave was conducted in 12 countries and fieldwork was led by Dr. Walid al-Khatib and Dr. Sara Ababneh of CSS. In 2014, Dr. Michael Robbins was appointed as project director and has overseen fieldwork in waves 4 and 5. Meanwhile, the project transitioned to a model with core partners across the region, including the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, One to One for Research and Polling, and the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute at Qatar University. The fourth wave was carried out across 7 countries in 2016. The fifth wave was carried out across 12 countries and included larger sample sizes in most countries. In total, more than 25,000 surveys were carried out making this the largest and most in depth publicly available survey ever carried out across the Middle East and North Africa. The survey was conducted in partnership with the BBC Arabic. Results were also covered in major media outlets across the world including The Economist, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, and The Daily Star, among others.
Methodology
All interviews are conducted with citizens of a country who are eighteen years of age or older. Sampling is done scientifically to ensure that results are representative for the country. Surveys are conducted face-to-face in the respondent's place of residence.
Waves
Wave 1 survey in 7 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Yemen. Wave 2 survey in 10 countries: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen. Wave 3 survey in 12 countries: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen. Wave 4 survey in 7 countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia. Wave 5 survey in 12 countries: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen.
