Today’s students are preparing to enter a world in which data literacy – the ability to find, analyze, interpret, and describe data – is absolutely essential for academic and career success. The Roper Center’s archive of public opinion data offers educators the opportunity to integrate data into curriculum in multiple ways by offering understandable, relevant quantitative data on a broad range of topics in history, health, culture, government, and media studies. To support educators at the graduate, undergraduate, and high school level in their work, the Roper Center offers the following materials to facilitate the use of polling data in the classroom. For an overview of polling concepts, methods and analysis, please see Polling Fundamentals and Analyzing Polls.
Classroom Materials for Educators
Lesson Plans and Assignments
Introductory-level lesson plans appropriate to an advanced high school or introductory college curriculum.
* AP History: What's the Connection Between Public Opinion and US History (Unit/Topic: Civil Rights, Presidential Elections, Public Opinion, Grades 9-12)
* U.S. History – Public Support for WWII (pdf)
* U.S. History – The Public and Desegregation (pdf)
* Civics – Using Polls to Develop a Political Strategy (pdf)
This section provides educators with sample teaching assignments helpful in the classroom for getting students acquainted with polling data. Assignments utilize several Roper Center resources to support learning of fundamental polling principles.
* Polling Basics Assignment (pdf)
* Sample Assignment Using the Roper Center’s website (pdf)
* Topical Assignments (pdf)
Campaign Weathervane
Go back in time to win the presidency and change the world for the better! Navigate the winds of public opinion through American history, you’ll answer each question according to how you think the American public would have felt at the time. Your goal is to gain favorability and, ultimately, a seat in the Oval Office!
SPSS Exercises
Undergraduate Research Sample
Undergraduates working with Roper Center materials have conducted and presented original research. See student work on public opinion in the following areas:
* Misinformation, Vaccination, and Social Media Use Across the Political Aisle
* Public Approval for Increasing Immigration
* Responsibility, Overconfidence, & Intervention Efforts in the Age of Fake News
* Gun control
Dataset downloads
2006 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey
The 2006 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey is comprised of a national adult sample of 2,741 respondents and twenty-two communities sample (11 of which were from the 2000 Social Capital Benchmark Survey) totaling 9,359 community respondents. The overall sample size is 12,100.Field PeriodThe survey was conducted during two waves.
Faith Matters Survey 2006
The Faith Matters Survey was conducted on behalf of Harvard University by International Communications Research in the summer of 2006. The survey was generously funded by the John Templeton Foundation.