About the Roper Center

Founded in 1947, the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research is the leading educational facility in the field of public opinion. The Center exists to promote the intelligent, responsible and imaginative use of public opinion in addressing the problems faced by Americans and citizens of other nations. In an increasingly complex and interdependent global environment, the Roper Center hopes to foster increased international understanding and to promote cross-national research. Through the maintenance of the world's largest archive of survey data, and through its programs of publication, presentation and advanced research, the Roper Center strives to improve the practice of survey research and the use of survey data in the United States and abroad.

RoperExpress

RoperExpress makes possible immediate download of data.  Studies available through RoperExpress are marked with an icon, . 

To order studies not available for download through RoperExpress, email Ed Nelson (Sociology, CSU Fresno) at , or call him at 559/278-2275.

Roper data are made available through a license to the CSU, and are not to be provided to non-CSU personnel.

Downloading Roper Center data:

Note: Access to Roper Center data must be from an on-campus computer or, if your campus provides it, from off campus through a proxy server. Check with your SSRIC representative (at http://www.ssric.org/reps to see if service via a proxy server is available on your campus.

Go to http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu

Click on “Quick Links” and then on “Search for Datasets” to locate data. Clicking on “Search Help” will get you a short description of the search procedures.  You can type keywords into the search box and limit your search to a particular date range and country. Limit your search to one word or phrase. Don't use compound searches.  Locate the study you are interested in and click on the study # for more information about that study.  The study description will include a link to the codebook. Left clicking on the link will open the codebook as a PDF or MS Word file. Once you have opened the file, you can save it to your computer. You can also download the data set by left clicking on the file to want to save. You will need to login by entering your email address as your login.

The following is an example of a study description:

Another way to search is to use iPOLL, a database of over 500,000 questions.  Click on “Quick Links” and then “iPOLL Login.” You will have to login using your email address.  The first time you use iPOLL you will have to register as a user. Once you have done this, you will not have to do it again.  Your e-mail address is your login. iPOLL allows you to search the database of questions. There is help for iPOLL available by clicking on “Boolean” and “Wildcard.”  You can get question details for each question and you can select those questions you are interested in by placing a check in the box to the left of the question.  Then you can click on “View Selections” to look at the question wording and the frequency distributions for the questions you have selected.

Downloading Data:

The first time you try to download a data file, you will be asked to register for a personalized account. Click on OK. This will take you to a screen with a log in. Ignore the log in. Go to the bottom of the screen and click on "ask for a personalized account." Fill in the information requested and submit. You will create your own username and password. From that point on all you will have to do is log in with the username and password you created. You will be able to do this both from on and off campus.

Additional Resources

Roper Center Home Page: http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/

Roper Center Education Resources: http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/education.html

Last Updated October 27, 2010