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

Coding the ‘single most important issue’
The very first question on each wave of the British Election Study asks respondents “what is the SINGLE MOST important issue facing the country at the present time?” Variants of this question have a long history and are the most widely used measures of which…

BES Internet Panel Campaign Wave Data and W1-5 Panel Released
The British Election Study is pleased to announce the release of the fifth wave of the Internet Panel. You can download the data here. In total 30,725 respondents took wave 5 of the British Election Study. 28,073 of these also took wave 4, an overall…

Updated 2015 General Election Results Data Released
Today we are releasing the updated version of our 2015 General Election results file. This comprises the 2015 election results for each constituency (winning party, vote share, number of votes, turnout, majority and changes in vote share since 2010), the 2010 results (winning party, vote share,…

BES FactCheck #GE2015
This page will be regularly updated on election night to fact check the claims and counter claims of politicians in real time. A British Election Study team led by co-Director Professor Cees van Der Eijk from The University of Nottingham’s will be scanning the election…

Join BES Fact Check on election night
Join BES Fact Check on election night Britain’s most detailed study of electoral behaviour is to fact check the claims and counter claims of politicians in real time on General Election night. A British Election Study team led by The University of Nottingham’s Professor Cees…
Pre-Election BES Data Available for Download (Preliminary Files)
We are releasing an early version of wave 4 of the BES Internet Panel. This comprises around 16,000 respondents who completed the wave 4 survey in the first week of its launch (6-13 March 2015). The survey remains in the field until the first day…

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…