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LAPOP has its origins in studies of democratic values in one country, Costa Rica. This pioneering public opinion research took place in the 1970s, a time in which much of the rest of Latin America was caught in the grip of repressive regimes that widely prohibited studies of democratic 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 the Caribbean.
In 2004, LAPOP established the AmericasBarometer as multi-country, regularly conducted surveys of democratic values and behaviors in the Americas, organized by a consortium of academic and think-tank partners in the hemisphere. The first round included voting-age respondents from 11 countries. The second round of surveys took place in 2006 and represented 22 countries from the hemisphere. The third round, 2008, included 24 countries in the Americas. In 2010, 26 countries were included, from North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean, adding Trinidad & Tobago as well as Suriname to the 24 countries covered in 2008. In 2012, 26 countries were included again, and over 41,000 interviews were carried out. The 2014 round, which marks the latest round of surveys of the AmericasBarometer, includes surveys conducted in 28 countries across the Americas and more than 50,000 interviews. The AmericasBarometer is the most expansive regional survey project in the Western Hemisphere.
LAPOP prides itself in employing rigorous methodology, employing carefully designed stratified and clustered national samples, dozens of pretests for each new questionnaire module introduced, the widespread use of handheld computers to collect the data, extensive training of interviewers by LAPOP faculty and staff, and free on-line access to all of our data. External evaluations of LAPOP have called its surveys "state of the art."
Below please find pictures of the early days: On the left is LAPOP Founder and Senior Adviser Mitch Seligson planning the sample design for his doctoral dissertation. On the right see Research Professor Susan Berk Seligson (Coordinator of CARSI Qualitative Research) conducting an interview in 1973 in rural Costa Rica as part of Susan's first socio-linguistic fieldwork and Mitch's doctoral dissertation.