News - BES Impact
One of the priorities of the 2015 British Election Study team is to maximize the use and reach of BES data and BES research findings. BES data provides in-depth understanding of the way representative democracy functions in British elections. It provides unique insights into British public opinion, participation, attitudes towards politics and explanations of electoral outcomes. The 2015 BES team is maximizing the usefulness and impact of the BES via:
• An extensive programme of events between 2013 and 2017 in England, Scotland and Wales.
• The release of BES findings for dissemination via national media outlets.
• Expert commentary in national and international media.
• Partnership with the Electoral Commission to study individual electoral registration effects, culminating in a joint report.
• A BES data playground to allow any interested user to access and analyse BES data online (coming soon). We expect this tool to be particularly useful to non-academic researchers in government, political parties, campaigns, charities and think tanks, and to journalists. This will also be of special use to undergraduate and graduate students wishing to explore BES data.
• An Advisory Board with significant expertise in election studies and research into electoral behaviour.
The BES’ Jane Green is ‘Research Communicator of the Year’
One of the nation’s top political studies awards has gone to Professor Jane Green, co-Director of the British Election study. The University of Manchester based academic received the Political Studies Association Research Communicator Award 2015 accolade at a plush ceremony in London on Tuesday night…
The Benefits of Random Probability Sampling: The 2015 BES Face-to-Face
This post reveals the BES 2015 reported vote figures for the face-to-face survey and discusses them in the context of representativeness achieved via random probability sampling and efforts to interview hard-to-reach respondents. The face-to-face survey is an address-based random probability sample of eligible voters living in 600 wards…
Why the polls got it wrong and the British Election Study face-to-face...
The release of the British Election Study post-election face-to-face survey allows us to revisit the question of why the polls went wrong before the 2015 General Election. Based on our internet panel, we previously examined five possible explanations for why the polls went wrong and…
Learning the right lessons from Labour’s 2015 defeat
Published first by the IPPR in Juncture, and reported by Ross Hawkins on BBC online. Jane Green and Chris Prosser pick apart the factors that underpinned Labour’s disappointing election performance, including the ability of the Conservative and Labour parties to win votes from other parties…
Using the British Election Study to Understand the Great Polling Miss
Using the British Election Study to Understand the Great Polling Miss Competing explanations have been put forward for the large polling errors on May 7th. In this post, we examine five relatively plausible explanations of the polling errors, looking at the existing evidence for each…
The 2015 General Election: Religious Affiliation and Party Vote Share Across Constituencies
By Dr Ben Clements, University of Leicester (reposted with kind permission from British Religion In Numbers) As the weekend round-up of religious news on BRIN flagged up, the British Election Study (BES) 2015 has released the first version of the 2015 general election results dataset….
Seminar: who won the UK General Election, how and why?
Click below to see recorded coverage on BBC Parliament of a Nuffield College Oxford and British Election Study seminar, featuring BES Co-Directors Prof Jane Green and Prof Geoff Evans along with Peter Kellner, President of YouGov. BBC Parliament Channel
Three common errors in interpreting voters’ choices
By the BES FactCheck Team Cees van der Eijk (BES and Nottingham) ,Stuart Fox (Nottingham), Mike Addelman (BES and Manchester) Annemarie Walter (Nottingham), Jonathan Rose (Nottingham), Fanni Toth (Nottingham), Fiona Williams (Nottingham), Katia Kolpinskaya (Nottingham), Josh Townsley (Nottingham), Tom Loughran (Manchester) During election night, we…
ITV’s Election analysis by Prof Jane Green
The British Election Study is working with ITV to bring in-depth analysis and understanding of the most unpredictable election in living memory. The British Election Study has provided an unparalleled source of election data and analysis since it began in 1964. ITV are releasing our…
Will younger voters turnout to vote? By Ed Fieldhouse
There has been a lot of speculation about the turnout of young voters in tomorrow’s General Election. In 2010 only an estimated 44% of the under 25s voted compared to 65% overall. But with a close run and unpredictable election turnout may well be higher…