Professor Ed Fieldhouse presented new innovations in the 2015 British Election Study at a workshop of election specialists hosted by Professor Andre Blais (University of Montreal) in March 2014. Ed highlighted innovations in the 2015 BES:
- User experiments and proposals (‘playground’ items e.g. certainty scales)
- Split sample for alternative questions (e.g. PTV and party feeling scales; European integration position)
- Randomisation of question placement (e.g. party ID, vote choice, MII, trust)
- Randomisation of question object within grid (e.g. party leaders & issues for evaluation of performance & responsibility) and of response categories (e.g. social desirability)
- Psychological characteristics: social desirability, risk taking
- Individualised (pre-loaded) questions: who is your local MP?
- Discussant network module: focus on turnout and household relationships (norms, expressive motives, costs).
- Political knowledge quiz with pictures
- Mapping local community
- Social media analysis in the 2015 campaign: the iBES
Ed’s slides can be downloaded here. besmontreal