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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.

BES and the EU referendum result on ITV

29/06/2016

The British Election Study has served the social science community since 1964, and will continue to provide a public resource for understanding the political upheaval our country is experiencing. On Thursday night, using the British Election Study, we called the result of the EU referendum…

The ITV referendum team

24/06/2016

Following the tumultuous events of referendum night, here’s a group photo of the ITV news team, with Manchester’s Professor Jane Green, who followed the twists and turns of the night’s events. Professor Green, who is one of the nation’s leading political scientists and a co-director…

The Benefits of Random Probability Sampling: The 2015 BES Face-to-Face

12/11/2015

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…