Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research is an academic data archive and research center affiliated with Cornell University. It is recognized as the world's oldest archive devoted to social science data and as one of the largest repositories specializing in public opinion surveys. The center preserves, organizes, and provides access to polling data generated by news organizations, commercial polling companies, universities, and other research institutions. Its principal public-facing resource is Roper iPoll, a searchable archive containing more than 27,000 datasets and over 855,000 individual survey questions with responses. The collection represents responses from millions of people and covers a broad range of subjects, including elections, political attitudes, social issues, international affairs, public policy, consumer behavior, and historical trends in American opinion. New material is added on an ongoing basis. In addition to contemporary polling, the archive includes important historical collections associated with organizations such as Gallup, Pew Research Center, the National Opinion Research Center, and Princeton University's Office of Public Opinion Research. The center's role extends beyond simple storage. It supports scholars, journalists, students, educators, and other users who need to locate, compare, interpret, and cite public opinion evidence over time. By bringing together surveys conducted for different purposes and by different methodologies, the archive enables longitudinal analysis of changes in public attitudes and facilitates comparisons among polling organizations. Its work also contributes to data curation and digital preservation within the social sciences. Roper Center governance combines academic and professional perspectives. Its board includes representatives from universities and the commercial public opinion research community, and it maintains cooperative relationships with other archives around the world. The center also supports the development of the next generation of survey researchers through student fellowships, including Kohut Research Fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students, Mitofsky Graduate Research Fellowships for Cornell doctoral students, and a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship in Support of Diversity and Inclusion conducted jointly with the American Association for Public Opinion Research. The organization moved from the University of Connecticut to Cornell University in 2015, placing its archive within Cornell's research and educational environment. Its current executive director is Jonathon P. Schuldt, an associate professor of communication at Cornell University. The governing board is chaired by Robert Y. Shapiro of Columbia University. The center also recognizes achievement in the field through the Warren J. Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research, named for the noted survey researcher Warren Mitofsky. Roper Center is best understood not as a conventional commercial polling brand, but as a research infrastructure institution. Its value lies in the preservation, discoverability, and responsible use of public opinion evidence. Through its archive, fellowships, awards, and relationships with other data repositories, it connects historical polling records with current scholarship, journalism, and public discussion.

The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research developed as a specialized institutional archive for public opinion and social science survey data. Its purpose is to preserve polling records that might otherwise remain scattered among polling firms, news organizations, universities, and individual research projects. Over time, it became a major repository for historical and contemporary survey evidence, with particular strength in material concerning the United States. The center's holdings cover surveys produced by several different sectors of the research community. News-media and commercial polling organizations form an important part of the collection, while academic surveys provide additional methodological and substantive depth. The archive includes historical materials associated with Gallup, Pew Research Center, the National Opinion Research Center, and Princeton University's Office of Public Opinion Research. Taken together, these holdings make it possible to study both individual survey results and long-term changes in public attitudes. A defining feature of the center is the conversion of a large and heterogeneous body of survey material into a searchable research resource. Through Roper iPoll, users can locate questions and responses across tens of thousands of datasets. The collection encompasses millions of individual respondents and a wide range of topics, allowing researchers to examine trends in elections, policy preferences, social values, international affairs, and other areas of public life. The archive's continuing additions mean that it serves both as a historical record and as an evolving source of current public opinion data. The Roper Center's institutional history includes a major transition in 2015, when it moved from the University of Connecticut to Cornell University. The relocation connected the center more closely with Cornell's academic programs and research infrastructure while preserving its specialized archival mission. At Cornell, the center continued to operate as a hub for scholars, journalists, students, and other users of survey data. Governance has traditionally drawn on both academic and professional expertise. The board of directors includes participants from higher education and commercial public opinion research, reflecting the center's position between university scholarship and the broader polling profession. The center also cooperates with archives in other countries, supporting wider access to social science data and connections among institutions engaged in data preservation. Education and professional development form another part of the center's work. It awards Kohut Research Fellowships to undergraduate and graduate students, Mitofsky Graduate Research Fellowships to Cornell doctoral students, and a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship in Support of Diversity and Inclusion in collaboration with the American Association for Public Opinion Research. These programs extend the center's impact beyond its archive by supporting researchers who use or advance public opinion methods. The center recognizes distinguished contributions through the Warren J. Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research. Award recipients have included researchers and scholars such as John Mueller, Robert Blendon, Kathleen Frankovic, Andrew Kohut, Daniel Yankelovich, James Stimson, Howard Schuman, Mollyann Brodie, Patricia Moy, Lawrence D. Bobo, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Diane Colasanto, and Michael Traugott. The award links the institution to the history and professional standards of survey research. Today, the Roper Center remains an active Cornell-affiliated research and archival organization. Its executive director is Jonathon P. Schuldt, and its board is chaired by Robert Y. Shapiro. The center's continuing importance rests on its combination of preservation, searchability, historical breadth, and support for responsible analysis of public opinion.

• 2015

  Relocation to Cornell University

  [1]Roper Center for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org

  The Roper Center moved from the University of Connecticut to Cornell University, where it continued its archival and research mission as a Cornell-affiliated center.

Academic research infrastructure specializing in the preservation, curation, discovery, and analysis of public opinion survey data.

• Survey data archive and search platform

  Roper iPoll

  Roper iPoll is the center's principal searchable resource for public opinion survey data. It brings together more than 27,000 datasets and over 855,000 questions with responses, covering surveys from news organizations, commercial polling firms, and academic institutions. The platform allows users to find comparable questions and historical results across a broad range of political, social, economic, and international topics.

• Research archive

  Roper Center public opinion archive

  The broader Roper Center archive preserves public opinion and social science survey materials produced by organizations including Gallup, Pew Research Center, the National Opinion Research Center, Princeton University's Office of Public Opinion Research, news media, and commercial polling companies. Its holdings support historical comparison, scholarly research, journalism, teaching, and analysis of changes in public attitudes.

• 2015

  Transfer of the center to Cornell UniversityStrategy

  Background

  The Roper Center had been based at the University of Connecticut and required a new institutional home for its public opinion archive and research activities.

  Action taken

  The center moved to Cornell University and continued operating as a university-affiliated archive and research center.

  Aftermath

  The relocation placed the archive within Cornell's academic and research environment. No financial terms are specified in the available source material.

  Source

1. 1Roper Center for Public Opinion Researchen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell Universityropercenter.cornell.edu