Finding and Retrieving Our Data

Accessing Our Data

Accessing Odesi

The Canadian Opinion Research Archive’s considerable data holdings are found in Odesi. This section provides information on accessing and downloading CORA data directly or through the Scholars Portal Canadian Public Opinion Polls Collection. You may view a simple list of CORA’s data holdings on our website.

Established in 2007, Odesi is a digital repository for social science data, including polling data. It is a web-based data exploration, extraction and analysis tool that uses the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) social science data standard.

Odesi provides researchers the ability to search for survey questions (variables) across thousands of datasets. There are both microdata and aggregate data available, in a range of formats. In other words, you can download datasets from Odesi, as well as their associated codebooks and technical documentation.

Select any of the images below to open a slideshow of step-by-step instructions

Accessing the Scholars Portal Canadian Public Opinion Polls Collection

CORA’s data holdings are part of the Scholars Portal Canadian Public Opinion Polls (POP) Collection, which includes over a thousand public opinion polls. As part of this impressive collection, Scholars Portal has put together a site explaining what polls are, their history in Canada, and more.

To search the entire Public Opinion Polls Collection (which includes CORA’s holdings + all other public opinion holdings in Odesi from universities across Ontario), deselect “Select All” option under “Collections” and instead select the “Public Opinion Polls (POP)” option.

On the Canadian Public Opinion Polls Guide in Scholars Portal, you can click through for collection coverage and topics, as well as how to search or browse the POP collection.