Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
British Election Study (BES) The BES series constitutes the longest academic series of nationally representative probability sample surveys in the country. Its broad aim is to explore the changing determinants of electoral behaviour in contemporary Britain. The surveys have taken place immediately after every general election since 1964. Since the election series was originated in 1963 by David Butler and Donald Stokes under the name of Political Change in Britain, 1963-1970 (see under GN 33099), it has been under the direction of a number of academics over time.Besides the main election surveys, other datasets have also been produced. For example, some studies have included separate sub-samples for ethnic minorities and areas such as Scotland and Northern Ireland (held under SNs 681, 3171, 3889, 3891, and 4622), and several inter-election panel studies have been undertaken between 1969 and 2001 that follow the same individuals interviewed in the cross-sectional surveys (see SNs 422, 2983, 3888, 4000 4028 and 4620). The 2015 study also includes an internet panel which follows a separate sample of voters across six separate waves in 2014-2015, and continues forward into the next electoral cycle - please see the British Election Study Data website for details. The 2015 study was themed Voters in Context and was designed to help our understanding of long-term political change, and the role of national and sub-national variations in the political and social context in shaping citizens’ attitudes and behaviour. The survey tackles questions concerning key contemporary questions concerning political representation, accountability and engagement, and aims to help explain the fragmentation of party support in 2015. British Election Study 2015 Face-to-Face Post-Election Survey The BES 2015 Face-to-Face Post-Election Survey is an address-based random probability sample study of eligible voters living in 600 wards in 300 Parliamentary Constituencies in England, Scotland, and Wales; 2,987 people completed the survey. The fieldwork was conducted by GfK between 8 May 2015 and 13 September 2015 and achieved an overall response rate of 55.9%. The face-to-face dataset also includes a self-completion Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) module that was answered by 1,567 respondents. Full details of the methodology and fieldwork are available in the technical report, and questionnaire details can be found in the codebook.
Main Topics:
Topics covered in the post-election survey include: issues facing the country, electoral behaviour and attitudes toward voting, party identify, views on taxation, government spending, economy/national debt, leaders, immigration, European Union and the NHS, media usage, political engagement, campaigning, politicians and trust, values, likelihood of voting for each party, political participation, social class system, political knowledge and demographics.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
See documentation for details.
Face-to-face interview
Self-administered questionnaire
