Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej (CBOS; English: Centre for Public Opinion Research) is an

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

ing institute in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, based in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. Originally established in communist Poland in 1982,The Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS) homepage at Wayback Machine.
Retrieved July 7, 2015. it has operated as a non-profit public foundation created by a special law since 1997 (''Ustawy o fundacji Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej z dn. 20 lutego 1997 r., Dz.U. nr 30, poz. 163''). Its statutory purpose is to provide data on the population's opinion regarding political and social issues. Major Polish newspapers and news magazines, such as

Gazeta Wyborcza (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...

, Rzeczpospolita, and

Polityka ''Polityka'' (, ''Politics'') is a centre-left weekly news magazine in Poland. It had a circulation of 95,300 during 2021. ''Polityka'' has a slightly intellectual, socially liberal profile, setting it apart from the more conservative ''Wprost ...

, regularly commission CBOS to conduct polls. Apart from its public function, CBOS also conducts commercial market research to help finance its operations. CBOS conducts a monthly survey on a representative sample of 1,000 adult persons entitled "Current Problems and Events" (''Aktualne problemy i wydarzenia''). The findings are published on a monthly basis and made available on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

with a one-month delay (since 1998). Each monthly report focuses on a specific topic, with certain topics recurring in regular intervals. An abridged English-language newsletter, entitled "Polish Public Opinion" and containing summaries of results on various topics, is also available online and free of charge. In total, CBOS publishes more than 200 reports and books each year. CBOS employs a staff of 40+

sociologists This list of sociologists includes people who have made notable contributions to sociological theory or to research in one or more areas of sociology. A * Peter Abell, British sociologist * Andrew Abbott, American sociologist * Margaret ...

economists An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

statisticians A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may ...

, and

computer scientists Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to applied disciplines (including the design an ...

at its seat in Warsaw, and a nationwide network of interviewers. CBOS's work is supervised by a board established per the 1997 law, consisting of seven academic experts appointed by the

council of ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

and the representatives of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, the

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, and the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Criticism

CBOS has been accused of performing "magic" on behalf of their clients by both ' magazine, Polska Agencja Prasowa/JKUB
Cud nie sondaż! Według CBOS Platforma wyprzedza PiS aż o 19 punktów procentowych…

magazine, Internetowe wydanie, 2015-03-12. and ''

''.Agnieszka Kublik
Sa też dobre sondaże.
''

'', Internetowe wydanie, 20.12.2014. For example, results of a survey conducted by CBOS prior to presidential elections of 2015 had shown rapidly growing support for

Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

(''Platforma Obywatelska'') even though only ten days earlier, in a different survey conducted by CBOS on behalf of TVN24 (a different client), the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

(''Prawo i Sprawiedliwość'', PiS) was ahead of PO in terms of popularity. Agnieszka Kublik writing for ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' noted that the poll was a failure not only because of how respondents were being approached by CBOS, but also because of its perceived political affiliations. After the parliamentary election 2019, Europe Elects showed that CBOS had the largest accumulative error among all Polish pollsters, favouring especially the government party PiS.

References

{{Authority control Non-profit organisations based in Poland Public opinion research companies