Political Science: Data Sources

An open-access collection of 60+ Ipsos Canada surveys. The data come from a range of opinion polls and surveys on topics such as national and provincial politics, real estate buying habits, and Canadian heritage, among others.

The Canadian Opinion Research Archive at Queen's University makes available commercial and independent surveys to the academic, research and journalistic communities. CORA contains hundreds of surveys including thousands of discrete items collected by major Canadian firms dating back to the 1970s. The data behind these polls is also available linked from this site.

After each election, Elections Canada surveys electors, and produces reports on voter turnout, democratic and electoral participation of different groups such as youth and Aboriginal electors, and election administration and legislation, and more.

The Census Program provides a statistical portrait of the country every five years. The last census was conducted in May 2011 and consisted of the Census of Agriculture, the Census of Population, and the 2011 National Household Survey.

Dr. Reginald Bibby conducted a series of national surveys every five years through from 1974 - 2005 on social trends in Canada. He has also done surveys of Canadian youth (15-19) in 1984, 1992, 2000, and 2008 which have explored their attitudes, values, beliefs, behaviour, and expectations.

The ISSP is a continuing annual programme of cross-national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research.

The Canadian National Elections Study (CNES) Series is a collection of national surveys produced in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Canada Council, National Science Foundation, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and Canadian Facts. Initiated in 1965, the CNES has continued through every election since.

Worldwide data on population/demography, health, education, economics, and the environment. Search by geography or topic.

Statistics by country on such topics as child mortality rates, nutrition, health, education, demographics, protection, disparities and much more.

Uses noneconomic measures to gauge the well-being of a country's inhabitants. It covers 133 countries, with partial data on 28 more. The Index consists of 52 indicators, divided into three major categories: basic human needs (shelter, sanitation), foundations of well-being (life-expectancy, school enrollment), and opportunity (tolerance, political rights). The indicator data come from well-respected producers of social data such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, OECD, and the World Bank, and are updated yearly. Data analysis is made available as brief summaries, detailed reports, graphic presentations, or full datasets, with options to embed, download, or display the data tables in different ways, instantly reconfigured online.

Another product of the World Bank, the Global Consumption Database is a one-stop source of data on household consumption patterns in developing countries. It is designed to serve a wide range of users—from researchers seeking data for analytical studies to businesses seeking a better understanding of the markets into which they are expanding or those they are already serving.

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research and is composed of a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences.

This website provides links to a list of key resources that deal with political advertising data. Content is mostly historical, but there is also more recent content.