Finding Data & Statistics: Public Opinion, Social Attitudes and Values

The House Ways and Means Committee Green Book provides program descriptions and historical data on a wide variety of social and economic topics, including Social Security, employment, earnings, welfare, child support, health insurance, the elderly, families with children, poverty and taxation. It has become a standard reference work for those interested in the direction of social policy in the United States. 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004. See Appendix pdf files for data tables.

Freedom house is an independent non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world. They provide a comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties with data back to 1972.

Ranking of economic freedom based on variables in ten categories. Scores indicate the level of government interference in the economy. Rankings, comparisons, and country analysis is available as well as time s

A crossnational collaborative program that develops topical modules dealing with important areas of social science as supplements to regular national surveys in more than 20 countries. Topics have included religion, family and gender roles, role of the government, social inequality, the environment, and work attitudes.

Topics include Employment, Hours of Work, Wages, Labor Cost, CPI, Occupational Injuries, Strikes, Household Income and Expenditure, Migration, Retail Prices of 93 Food Items.

The statistical tables display economic and social statistics on the countries and territories of the world with particular reference to children's well being.

Includes the human development index (HDI) and other indices, links to other background materials, data resources and on-going debates and discussions on human development statistics.

Provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America.

This public opinion database maintained by the University of North Carolina contains more than 230,000 questions from surveys conducted since 1958. It is the repository for all Louis Harris public opinion data and Roper Center nonproprietary poll data as well as state-level polling organizations from 22 states, with strong coverage of Southern states. Questions are searchable by keyword, date, study number, study title, or state.

1975 - present
Conducted on behalf of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, this series of studies investigate the opinions and attitudes of the general public and a select group of opinion leaders (or elites) on matters relating to United States foreign policy and to define the parameters of public opinion within which decision-makers must operate.

Measures U.S. attitudes toward social and public policy issues, economic status, political events, work, and family life. Coverage dates: 1972 - present

Cross-national survey program covering all European Union member states which regularly monitors the social and political attitudes of the nine member nations: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, and Luxembourg. These Eurobarometers are carried out in the spring and fall of each year. Coverage dates: 1974 - present

Latest 2 years
The Field (California) Poll, founded in 1947, has operated continuously as a California statewide survey of opinions and attitudes on social and political issues.

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is a private nonprofit organization dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research.

Began in 1983, and has been conducted every year since, except in 1988 and 1992. Designed to produce annual measures of attitudinal shifts.

Founded in 1992, the CORA contains hundreds of surveys collected by major commercial Canadian firms dating back to the 1970s. Most of the datasets are not available for direct download but access to the archive may be requested.

Cross-national survey program covering all European Union member states which regularly monitors the social and political attitudes of the nine member nations: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, and Luxembourg. These Eurobarometers are carried out in the spring and fall of each year. Coverage dates: 1974 - present

Monitors social trends in Germany. Each data collection focuses on special topics of investigation. Basic demographic and socioeconomic data also are collected on the respondents, who are German-speaking persons 18 years of age and older. Conducted biennially since 1980. Before 1991, respondents were chosen from the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin only, and since 1991 from all of Germany.

A crossnational collaborative program that develops topical modules dealing with important areas of social science as supplements to regular national surveys in more than 20 countries. Topics have included religion, family and gender roles, role of the government, social inequality, the environment, and work attitudes.

Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of some 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed. A number of questions on drug use are asked.

A dataset that includes summary information from social surveys indicating levels of happiness in about 90 countries around the world, along with data on possibal causal factors.