Latin American Public Opinion Project
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| Founder | Mitchell A. Seligson |
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| Type | Research project |
| Focus | Public opinion surveys in areas such as democratic values and political behavior |
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Key people
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Director: Elizabeth J. Zechmeister |
| Website | http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ |
The Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) is a large, cross-national regional research project specializing in the development, implementation, and analysis of public opinion surveys. Founded by Dr. Mitchell A. Seligson over two decades ago, its principal focus is on governance and democracy in Latin America. The AmericasBarometer is the best-known survey produced by LAPOP. It is the only survey of democratic public opinion and behavior that covers the Americas (North, Central, South, and the Caribbean). It measures democratic values and behaviors in the Americas using national probability samples of voting-age adults. Dr. Elizabeth J. Zechmeister is the director of LAPOP.
LAPOP has its origins in studies of democratic values Costa Rica. This pioneering public opinion research took place in the 1970s, a time in which much of the rest of Latin America was under the control of authoritarian regimes, prohibiting studies of public opinion. As democratization expanded in Latin America, LAPOP grew in scope and size. Today LAPOP regularly carries out public opinion surveys in nearly every country in Latin America, Canada, the United States, and much of Caribbean.
LAPOP is housed at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt is a research university that for over 60 years has been a leader in the study of Latin America and the Caribbean. At this host institution, a team of faculty, staff, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students designs and analyses the public opinion surveys generated in the project. The group also edits and publishes the bi-weekly Insights Series reports, each one of which examines a single facet of public opinion. LAPOP’s network extends far beyond the Vanderbilt campus, to include partner institutions throughout the Americas and an international advisory board.
LAPOP functions as a consortium, working in partnership with numerous academic and non-governmental institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. It collaborates with these institutions, sharing ideas for survey content and working together to disseminate the results of the public opinion surveys to the citizens of participating countries. This dissemination of results takes the form of systematic country reports, comparative studies, panel presentations, and media interviews.
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