Roper Center Newsletter
Frequently Asked Questions
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Membership |
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Do I have to be a member to use your services? |
No. Anyone who is interested in public opinion polls can use our services. A cost estimate will be provided for any request that involves use of staff time. Pricing information is available online for datasets and Roper Center publications. |
How do I determine if my organization or institution is already a member of the Roper Center? |
You can call Customer Services at 860-486-4440, or visit the List of Members page within this site. If your organization is not listed there, it does not have a membership at this time. |
Can more than one department in a college or university share a membership? |
We encourage departments to pool their resources for membership. Frequently, the library of a college or university will hold the membership and serve the entire institution. |
As a Roper Center member, how can I download data files and documentation for studies I have requested? |
RoperExpress is a data access tool for on-demand download of data. Faculty and students at Member institutions now have Unlimited Access to those datasets in the Roper Center collection that are in ASCII or SPSS portable formats. Simply do a search for datasets and the studies accessible for immediate download in RoperExpress are marked with an icon:  . If you have difficulty, please contact the Center at 860-486-4440 or email at marilyn@ropercenter.uconn.edu. Please review the Roper Center's Responsible Use Statement for dissemination policies. |
Archive |
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What is the Catalog of Holdings? |
The Roper Center archives datasets from thousands of surveys with national adult, state, foreign, and special subpopulation samples. These datasets are listed in the Catalog of Holdings, which provides a searchable description and unique archive identification number for each. Along with such basic information as survey organization, interview dates, and type of sample, most catalog entries include abstracts indicating the subjects covered by the questions in the survey.
For surveys with national adult or major subpopulation samples (such as registered voters, women, or African Americans), iPOLL can be used as the primary finding aid to locate datasets on particular topics or for specific time periods. For state, foreign, and other special samples, a catalog search tool can be used to locate datasets by keyword (the abstract is searched), date, country, survey organization, survey sponsor, or type of sample. Once datasets are located, members may use RoperExpress for on-demand download of the data. Faculty and students at Member institutions now have Unlimited Access to those datasets in the Roper Center collection that are in ASCII or SPSS portable formats. Studies accessible for immediate download in RoperExpress are marked with an icon: . Non-members can order the data from the Roper Center by their identification numbers at marilyn@ropercenter.uconn.edu or 860-486-5107. |
How can I get the question wordings of all the questions in a given study I find in your Search for Datasets? |
You can look at entire surveys by searching in iPOLL for the name of the organization that conducted the particular poll and the beginning interview date of the poll. |
How do I properly cite the data I use from the Roper Center? |
Publications based on Roper Center data collections should acknowledge the Roper Center and the organization(s) that originally collected the data. Click here for more information on how to cite our data. |
What is RoperExpress |
RoperExpress is a data access tool for on-demand download of data. Faculty and students at Member institutions now have Unlimited Access to those datasets in the Roper Center collection that are in ASCII or SPSS portable formats. Simply do a search for datasets and the studies accessible for immediate download in RoperExpress are marked with an icon: . |
How do I bring an ASCII data file into SPSS? |
Guidelines for bringing Roper Center ASCII data files into SPSS are provided at ASCII_to_SPSS.html where Roper members have the opportunity to download sample SPSS syntax files with their corresponding datasets and codebooks. |
How do I access RoperExpress while I am off-campus? |
Member university students may access Roper Center resources while off campus by logging into the proxy server or Virtual Private Network (VPN) typically available through your university library. |
iPOLL |
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What is iPOLL? |
iPOLL is the most comprehensive, up-to-date source for US nationwide public opinion available today. A full-text retrieval system, the iPOLL online database is organized at the question-level. The system allows for users to sift through nearly half a million questions archived from national public opinion surveys since 1935. The database is updated daily. |
What kinds of surveys are included in iPOLL? |
iPOLL includes data survey results from academic, commercial and media survey organizations such as Gallup Organization, Harris Interactive, Pew Research Associates, and many more. The data come from all the surveys in the Roper Center archive that have US national adult samples or samples of registered voters, women, African Americans, or any subpopulation that constitutes a large segment of the national adult population. iPOLL does not include state samples or foreign samples (see Catalog of Holdings), however, surveys of these populations are available from the Roper Center at (860)486-4440. |
How do I properly cite the data I use from the Roper Center? |
Publications based on Roper Center data collections should acknowledge the Roper Center and the organization(s) that originally collected the data. Click here for more information on how to cite our data. |
How do I get all of the questions and responses from one survey? |
To retrieve all questions from an entire survey, regardless of when the questions were published, simply search for the survey organization using the organization pull-down menu and the beginning interview date using the date boxes on the search form. It is important to note that the date criteria used on the search form searches on the FIRST date of the interview period. |
What is the difference between searching iPOLL and searching for datasets? |
The Search for Datasets lists only those surveys for which the Roper Center holds the datasets, with brief descriptions of each. These include national, state, and foreign surveys, as well as special samples such as leaders or youth. iPOLL contains the question-level results from all of the US national surveys in the catalog, as well as a great deal of additional survey data from releases and reports. Click here to find out what the difference is between a top-line and a dataset. |
How does iPOLL enhance my membership? |
Like Search for Datasets, iPOLL can help you identify datasets that are rich in specific subject areas. However, because iPOLL provides the text and topline responses for all the questions, it makes selecting datasets easier and offers an appropriate context in which to review data, by comparing various questions and sources on the same topic and trend lines. Questions in iPOLL are linked to the Catalog study descriptions and often the questionnaires. |
What is the difference between iPOll and other research finding aids. |
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Does iPOLL include the results of internet surveys? |
No. The methodology involved in Internet polling is still a subject of contentious debate among survey professionals. We do have the results of some Internet surveys at the Roper Center, but they are not at present entered into the iPOLL database. (See Statement About Internet Polls by NCPP Polling Review Board.) |
Why should I get a trial registration for iPOLL? |
A trial registration is a good way to "test drive" iPOLL, as well as to gain access to a limited amount of the data contained in it. Trial registration allows you to search the entire iPOLL database to find out how much data is available on any subject. It also permits you to view the results of the five most recent and the ten oldest poll questions found by your search. |
How do I register for the iPOLL trial? |
Click here to fill out the iPOLL registration form. You will be able to search the iPOLL database immediately upon submitting the form. |
What is a username? |
Your username and password give you unique access to the iPOLL system. The username and password you request for your trial registration can be retained by you should you decide to become a full-fledged subscriber to the iPOLL system. |
What is a Session ID? |
The Session ID is an optional feature used by iPOLL Limited and iPOLL Select subscribers to identify a specific search session. This information is reported on monthly iPOLL usage statements. The Session ID can be used to identify individual users in a multi-user office environment or to identify specific projects for billing purposes. |
How should I select a password? |
Choosing a password is a personal matter. It is best to choose a password you will remember easily, but do not make it so obvious that other folks will be able to figure it out-avoid birthdays, names of sons, daughters, pets, etc. |
I selected a username/password, pressed "enter" and received an "invalid" message. What do I do now? |
Depending upon the specific message you receive, you may need to choose another username/password, or check to make sure all required information has been entered. Simply use the "back" button to return to the registration page to continue. |
I tried to register and was told someone else was using the username I chose. |
Unfortunately the username you have chosen has already been assigned to another user. You will need to go back to the registration page and choose a new and unique username. |
How long does it take for my registration to take effect? |
Your free trial registration will take place immediately. Should you decide to become a full-fledged subscriber to the iPOLL system, you will need to contact iPOLL Customer Services at 860-486-4440 to upgrade your subscription status. |
How do I access iPOLL while I am off-campus? |
Member university students may access Roper Center resources while off campus by logging into the proxy server or Virtual Private Network (VPN) typically available through your university library. IMPORTANT: Before registering for a trial iPOLL subscription that imposes restrictions on accessing Roper resources, see if your university is currently a member of the Roper Center by visiting “List of Members". If you are unsure of your university's status call 860.486.4440 or email rcweb@ropercenter.uconn.edu. |
How do I change the information used in registration? |
Currently, your user information can only be changed by contacting iPOLL Customer Services at 860-486-4440. |
Oops, I forgot my password. What do I do? |
Please call iPOLL Customer Services at 860-486-4440. You must provide your username to get your password. |
Research |
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How is the Roper Center different from ICPSR? |
Both the Roper Center and ICPSR provide access to data, but there is very little overlap in their collections. The Roper Center focuses on public opinion data from commercial and media survey organizations, while most data in ICPSR comes from academic researchers or government sources. |
Can I get information on response rates and sampling procedures? |
The survey documentation usually gives some basic information on sampling procedures. Additional information can sometimes be obtained by contacting the Roper Center or the survey organization. We are starting to request information on response rates, but unfortunately we have no information for most of the older surveys. |
What formats do you provide data in? |
Most datasets from before the 1990s are ASCII ("raw data") format. Many more recent datasets are SPSS portable files. Some older datasets are in column-binary formats. We normally convert these to ASCII or SPSS portable formats before providing them to users, but we can supply the column-binary data on request. |
Does the Roper Center provide statistical consulting? |
The Roper Center does not provide statistical consulting-if you need advice on how to analyze your data, contact the Center for Applied Statistics in the University of Connecticut 's Statistics Department. |
I want to conduct a survey of my own. Can the Roper Center help? |
You can use iPOLL and documentation to Roper Center data to get ideas about how to ask questions. However, the Roper Center does not conduct surveys or provide detailed advice on survey design. The Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut does conduct surveys. |
Miscellaneous |
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How can I get more help or information? |
Email questions or problems to rcweb@ropercenter.uconn.edu |
What are the Roper Center support hours? |
Monday through Friday from 8:00am-5:00pm Eastern Standard Time |
How do I properly cite the data I use from the Roper Center? |
Publications based on Roper Center data collections should acknowledge the Roper Center and the organization(s) that originally collected the data. Click here for more information on how to cite our data. |
How do I access Roper Center resources when I am off-campus? |
Member university students may access Roper Center resources while off campus by logging into the proxy server or Virtual Private Network (VPN) typically available through your university library. IMPORTANT: Before registering for a trial iPOLL subscription that imposes restrictions on accessing Roper resources, see if your university is currently a member of the Roper Center by visiting “List of Members". If you are unsure of your university's status call 860.486.4440 or email rcweb@ropercenter.uconn.edu. |
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Roper Center, University of Connecticut. All Rights Reserved.