Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. 

British Election Study Ethnic Minority Survey, 2010 is a distinct survey with a separate sample and fieldwork to that of the main BES. While the main BES survey is a source of robust data at the national level, it cannot provide substantial interview numbers for some subgroups. In particular it has not been possible to conduct a thorough investigation of the political views and behaviours of Britain's ethnic minority populations through the main survey alone. A boost of ethnic minority respondents was carried out as part of the 1997 BES (SN 3891) but nothing since that point. As a result of this the ESRC agreed to fund a survey of ethnic minorities to be conducted immediately after the 2010 general election. The primary focus was on the five main ethnic minority groups - people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean and Black African background. However, the research was intended to be complementary to the main BES and a large number of items are shared between the two surveys to enable comparative analysis. Further information may be found on the ESRC British Election Study Ethnic Minority Survey award webpage.

Main Topics:

The main topics include attitudes towards political issues in the election; ethnic and religious identity and group consciousness; attitudes to integration, integration policies and multiculturalism; voting; war in Afghanistan; traditional dress; discrimination, prejudice and social distance; ethnic social capital and mobilisation.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Face-to-face interview

Self-completion