download_ces_dataset: Download a Canadian Election Study Dataset

In ces: Access to Canadian Election Study Data

Download a Canadian Election Study Dataset

Description

This function downloads a single Canadian Election Study dataset for a specified year. The dataset is saved with a standardized filename in the format of ⁠ces_<year>_<variant>.<format>⁠, where the format extension corresponds to the original dataset format (e.g., .sav for SPSS, .dta for Stata).

Usage

download_ces_dataset(
  year,
  variant = NULL,
  path = NULL,
  overwrite = FALSE,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

year	A character string indicating the year of the CES data to download. Available years include "1965", "1968", "1972", "1974", "1984", "1988", "1993", "1997", "2000", "2004", "2006", "2008", "2011", "2015", "2019", "2021", "2025".
variant	A character string indicating the survey variant to download. Options depend on the year: "single_survey" (default for most years), "web" (default for 2015, 2019), "phone", "combo", "1974_1980", "jnjl", "sep", "nov". Use list_ces_datasets to see available variants for each year.
path	A character string indicating the directory where the dataset should be saved. If NULL (default), the dataset will be saved to the Downloads directory if available, otherwise to a temporary directory.
overwrite	Logical indicating whether to overwrite existing files. Default is FALSE.
verbose	Logical indicating whether to display detailed progress messages during download. Default is TRUE.

Value

Invisibly returns the file path of the downloaded dataset.

Examples

# Download the 2019 CES web survey dataset to a temporary directory
download_ces_dataset("2019", path = tempdir(), overwrite = TRUE)

# Download the 2019 phone survey to a specific directory
download_ces_dataset("2019", variant = "phone", path = tempdir(), overwrite = TRUE)

# Download 1972 September survey
download_ces_dataset("1972", variant = "sep", path = tempdir(), overwrite = TRUE)

# Overwrite existing file
download_ces_dataset("2021", path = tempdir(), overwrite = TRUE)

ces documentation built on June 7, 2026, 9:08 a.m.