Between 1978 and 2004, Steven Johnson, Joseph Tamney, and other researchers affiliated with Ball State University conducted the Middletown Area Studies. These annual surveys were sponsored by Ball State's College of Sciences and Humanities and its Center for Middletown Studies. The purpose of these studies was to assess the views and lifestyles of citizens on a diverse range of subjects. The major topics included questions on life satisfaction, education, income, family, religion, and politics.
The data from these surveys, including the codebooks, is available at the Ball State University Archives and Special Collections Department. It is also available online through the Association of Religion Data Archives, which also provides lists of some of the dozens of publications that have employed this research.