Those conducting peace polls should always use generally accepted scientific methods.   However, there are a number of good practices that apply specifically to peace polls to ensure impartiality.

Management and control of the project

The key ingredient for the successful management of a peace poll is for those responsible for the peace poll to follow the ethical and best practice guidelines provided here. A peace poll can be carried out by a variety of individuals and organizations, for example: a university lecturer and his or her students, a polling company, newspaper, NGO, state government or inter-governmental body such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In all cases those responsible for the maintenance of standards in those organizations (e.g. university ethics committee, NGO board of trustees) should make sure these ethical and best practice guidelines for peace polls are followed at all times. Beyond this fundamental principle of management the widest possible consent of all the parties to the conflict, with regard to all management decisions that must be made, is to be encouraged. In addition to agreement of the questions to be asked issues relating to sampling, funding, timing, writing up the results and dissemination should be made collectively whenever possible. In practice an initial peace poll undertaken by individuals may function quite informally on all these points but if the research develops into an important part of a negotiations/peace process then it may be necessary to establish a steering committee to oversee these activities in collaboration with those responsible for the negotiations. The inclusion of the most eminent and respected local and international scholars and practitioners in such a committee is to be encouraged, as they will help to give authority to the findings of the research and any difficult and politically sensitive decisions that may have to be made.

Research team

Peace polls often require data collection in difficult environments where extensive local knowledge and experience is essential to the success of the project. But as local polling organizations frequently only have such expertise in their own community it is often necessary to put together a consortium of organizations that can pool their intellectual and field resources across a variety of populations. If such cooperation proves difficult to establish, then it may be helpful to introduce a neutral third party into the research team with peace poll management experience.

Funding

As with the research team costs can be shared by those undertaking the research in the various communities effected by the conflict and/or media interests that represent the different communities. Alternatively a neutral third party can cover such costs providing they are acceptable to all of the parties to the conflict.

Questions

Impartiality in question design can be achieved by involving all the relevant parties to the conflict in the design and agreement of the questions asked. Focus groups are often used for this purpose; but where highly sensitive and politically charged issues are discussed, it is often better to conduct such interviews in a 'one-on-one' format with such interviews undertaken by persons from the informants community and/or a neutral third party. Additionally as the research is being undertaken to assist the parties to bring an end to their conflict, it is most helpful to include them in the questionnaire design process and, where circumstances allow, give them 'ownership' of that process. Finally as the objective of a peace poll is to help the parties to a conflict achieve peace, it is necessary to move beyond simple abstract judgments about the conflict and parties to the conflict to deal with the problems that caused the conflict and appropriate solutions to those problems that can be translated into policies and agreements. Involving political elites and their staff in such activities can be very productive although such involvement may have to be anonymous. Confidentiality will give political elites opportunities to test controversial policies against public opinion without running the risk of criticism from 'spoilers'.