Research Guides: Public Opinion: Fact or Fantasy: Start Here

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Research Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Newsbank's Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new window
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Use this link if you have already set up or renewed your Southwestern account/pass with NYT.
Political Science Complete This link opens in a new window
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Public Opinion Sites

Resources for finding Public Opinion:

Pew Research Center: Provides data and analysis on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. Includes some raw data.

Reuters Polling: Weekly polls on a variety of topics since 2012.

American National Election Studies: ANES provides data on voting, public opinion, and political participation. Free registration is required to view and download data.

Odum Institute Archive: Database maintained by the University of North Carolina provides access to the Harris Poll, Carolina Poll, Southern Poll, National Network of State Polls and Knight Foundation Community Poll collections. Raw data included.

PollingReport: Aggregates polling data from dozens of prominent pollsters.

General Social Survey: Personal-interview survey designed to monitor changes in both social characteristics and attitudes currently being conducted in the United States 1972-present. Raw data included

School Policy

About School Board Members
Texas Education Agency
Information about Texas schools, ratings, and data.
Georgetown ISD
School district information, demographic reports, and district policy.

Online Resources

The Monkey Cage
Blog written by political scientists
Mischiefs of Faction
Blog written by political scientists
FIveThirtyEight
Data-driven analyses
National Election Studies
Polling and survey data on a variety of topics

Data Collection

There are two main categories of data: Qualitative and Quantitative. Quantitative refers to data that is measurable and can be identified by numbers of figures *who, what, when, where, how many?). Qualitative data includes information that is not numerical and can be obtained by open-ended survey or interview questions (why? how?).

Types of data to consider: