This guide describes resources for researching public opinion, dividing data by geographic level, summary vs. microdata level. In addition to providing major sources, this guide identifies major reference works available to Carleton students, faculty, and staff

Summary-Level Data are published data points, commonly found in reports and statistics sections of web sites, and are useful for looking at quick statistics like the Presidential Approval Rating. Micro-Level Data are the numerically-coded results of individual responses or values, allowing more flexibility to work with the data in a raw, unanalyzed format. Remember that it is possible to summarize micro-level data to summary-level data yourself if you are looking for summary-level information but can only find micro-level data. Librarians are happy to help you find what you need.