Typical questions

• • How can I trace changing British attitudes towards the EU?

• • I need data on presidential ratings.

Starting points

• • Students from many disciplines may require access to large scale data from surveys and polls. Note that many can be reported incompletely or even inaccurately by the media. Always advise students to consult the original wherever possible to evaluate the methodology and sample size. This chapter provides examples of well-respected resources.

• • The sources listed in the Statistical Data chapter can also be useful for tracing sources. In particular, try searching the catalogues of the main data archives.

Recommended resources

Surveys – UK

British Social Attitudes Survey

www.britsocat.com

Largest survey of British economic, social and political attitudes. Carried out annually since 1989 by the National Centre for Social Research (www.natcen.ac.uk). Published in print and online. The website offers free access to a searchable database of over 20,000 survey questions with results shown in time-series tables and charts.

UK Data Archive (Subscription) [Specialist]

data-archive.ac.uk

National centre for the UK that provides access to an enormous collection of UK government-sponsored surveys, cross-national surveys and longitudinal studies. It includes a useful variable and question database that enables students to identify the right survey – discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/variables. There are also a number of teaching datasets that have been especially prepared for classroom use – www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/teaching/teaching-resources/teaching- datasets.aspx. These contain simplified data and lessons suggestions.

Surveys – international

Afrobarometer

www.afrobarometer.org

Provides free access to public opinion surveys on economic development, democracy and governance in Africa, covering 35 nations from 1999 onwards.

Arab Barometer

www.arabbarometer.org

Established in 2005 by the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Free access to surveys of citizens’ political attitudes in a number of Arab states including Palestine, Jordan and Morocco.

Asian Barometer Survey (ABS)

www.asianbarometer.org

Cross-national public opinion poll that has surveyed citizens from 13 East Asian and 5 South Asian nations on political values, democracy and governance since 2001. Some data and codebooks can be accessed free online.

Centre for Comparative European Survey Data Information System

www.ccesd.ac.uk/Home

Enables rapid cross-searching of major European survey data (including Eurobarometer) by theme and question.

Eurobarometer

ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm

Series of public opinion surveys conducted regularly since 1973 on behalf of the European Commission. Website is a great free resource for locating quantitative cross-national opinion data covering a range of social and economic topics including attitudes to Europe. It includes a searchable question bank.