News - BES Resources
Here you will find a range of resources we think may be helpful in understanding British elections and in analysing BES data. We will be adding podcasts, powerpoint presentations and further information to make the analysis of BES data as straightforward as possible.
The following links may be helpful in accessing statistical software commonly used to analyse social science data:
• stata
• SPSS
• Installing R
• RStudio
Britain’s Green wave by Paul Webb
The Green party may not emerge from the general election with more representation in parliament but it is on course to win its highest-ever vote – and it will be Labour and the Liberal Democrats who feel its impact the most. This article was originally…
Labour need to tempt not terrify the voters they have lost to...
By Dr Steve Fisher Abstract: This post summarises the main points from the national and constituency polls in Scotland before discussing what might help Labour north of the border. The British Election Study survey evidence suggests that Scottish Labour MPs will not be saved by…
Following the pink battle bus: where are the women voters in 2015?...
On 11th February Harriet Harman launched the Labour party’s magenta battle bus intended to reach out to women voters. The bus generated a fair amount of publicity and was explained on the basis that women have been less likely to vote in previous elections. Women…
Contact matters: voters like to be asked personally for their support
Ed Miliband has announced that to counter the Conservative party’s financial advantage during the 2015 election campaign Labour will outnumber them in supporters out on the streets engaging with voters – and will benefit accordingly. Is that a sensible strategy? David Cutts, Ed Fieldhouse (BES…
BES data updates
The BES team is releasing updated versions of the panel (v1.2), wave 1 (v3.4), wave 2 (v2.4) and wave 3 (v1.2) datasets. This is a minor update that makes a number of small improvements and fixes some errors. The updated datasets are replacing the previous…
Westminster Impact: BES Insights into 2015
The British Election Study made its presence felt in Westminster on December 9, when journalists, political scientists and party staffers were given a series of 10 powerful insights into the General Election, now just a few months away. There was extensive media coverage of the day….
Was Blair right: are Labour really too left-wing to win in May?...
Whilst many of us were thinking about how to celebrate the New Year, Ed Miliband might have been forgiven for eschewing the Champagne and going for something a little stronger. Although former PM Tony Blair’s popularity amongst the British public is hardly meteoric, and his…
Voter Trends in 2014 and lessons for the 2015 General Election
By Steven Ayres, Researcher, House of Commons Library Since 1964, the British Election Study (BES) has been surveying voters at each General Election in an attempt to establish who votes for who and why. The study has evolved over time, yet the central focus on…
Trading places? Left-right placement in Scotland. By Professor Phil Cowley
‘But what about the SNP?’ That’s what I’ve been asked most, after writing a blog on the way the public see the ideological positions of the parties. With ‘normal’ opinion polls it’s difficult to do sensible inter-country comparisons– because the number of respondents outside of…
Are we influenced by how our friends vote?
Political scientists have known for a long time that talking politics to family and friends makes a difference to how people vote. Bob Huckfeldt of University of California Davis pioneered the use of data on the political discussion networks of electors, and showed how voters…
