Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Using a social-psychological approach that views terrorism as a violent manifestation of intergroup behaviour, this project aims to identify contextual and psychological predictors of support for (and opposition to) political violence among British Muslims. This mixed-methods research was conducted in four interrelated phases: Qualitative interviews of British Muslims.An online pilot survey of British Muslims.A multi-level face-to-face survey conducted by a professional survey company. Interviews were conducted in 66 Double Output Areas with a Muslim penetration of 10 per cent or more, which were randomly drawn from a sample frame stratified by Muslim penetration, Government Office Region, and Index of Multiple Deprivation. A follow-up telephone survey. Respondents in Wave 1 who had agreed to be contacted again (48 per cent) were approached approximately five months after the first interview. Further information is available on the ESRC Social-psychological Predictors of Support for Terrorism: A Multi-level Analysis webpage.

Main Topics:

The qualitative semi-structured interview transcripts covered the following themes: religion, British identity, social inclusion, interest in politics, political efficacy, political engagement, views on political violence and counter-terrorism. The pilot survey covered the following topics: religion, nationality, views on politics, views about living in Great Britain, your opinions about global affairs, attitudes towards violence and basic demographic information. The multi-level face-to-face survey covered the following topics: identity, political engagement and efficacy, contact experiences, appraisals of local and global injustices (including foreign policy attitudes), emotions, and political violence support (against civilian and military targets). The follow-up telephone survey covered the following topics: key constructs relating to identity, political efficacy and engagement, attitudes towards political violence. As data collection took place shortly after the general election, questions related to voting and reactions to the outcome of the election were also included.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Convenience sample

Face-to-face interview

Telephone interview

Online (web-based) survey