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Sampling People or People in Places? The BES as an Election Study

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  • Ron Johnston
  • Richard Harris
  • Kelvyn Jones

Abstract

Electoral surveys conducted as part of the regular series of British Election Studies have used a stratified, clustered sampling design. This is constructed to ensure a nationally representative sample of voters (after weighting) but does not necessarily ensure a representative sample of the different social areas within the country. Much recent work has indicated the important role of local social and electoral milieux in the structuring of electoral behaviour but these are not reflected in the sampling design. An analysis of the geography of the face‐to‐face pre‐election component of the 2005 BES shows not only that it was unrepresentative of certain types of area (defined using bespoke neighbourhood data) but also that it was less representative of such areas than the two (larger) internet samples (pre‐ and post‐election) also undertaken as part of the 2005 BES. This suggests the need to reconsider the nature of the sample designs (even the entire survey methodology) to be deployed at future election studies in Great Britain.

Suggested Citation

  • Ron Johnston & Richard Harris & Kelvyn Jones, 2007. "Sampling People or People in Places? The BES as an Election Study," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 55(1), pages 86-112, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:55:y:2007:i:1:p:86-112
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00645.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. R J Johnston, 1986. "Research Policy and Review 9. A Space for Place (or a Place for Space) in British Psephology: A Review of Recent Writings with Especial Reference to the General Election of 1983," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 18(5), pages 573-598, May.
    2. Johnston, Ron & Propper, Carol & Burgess, Simon & Sarker, Rebecca & Bolster, Anne & Jones, Kelvyn, 2005. "Spatial Scale and the Neighbourhood Effect: Multinomial Models of Voting at Two Recent British General Elections," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(3), pages 487-514, July.
    3. Macallister, I. & Johnston, R. J. & Pattie, C. J. & Tunstall, H. & Dorling, D. F. L. & Rossiter, D. J., 2001. "Class Dealignment and the Neighbourhood Effect: Miller Revisited," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 41-59, January.
    4. Ron Johnston & Danny Dorling & Helena Tunstall & David Rossiter & Iain MacAllister & Charles Pattie, 2000. "Locating the Altruistic Voter: Context, Egocentric Voting, and Support for the Conservative Party at the 1997 General Election in England and Wales," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(4), pages 673-694, April.
    5. Jones, K. & Johnston, R. J. & Pattie, C. J., 1992. "People, Places and Regions: Exploring the Use of Multi-Level Modelling in the Analysis of Electoral Data," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 343-380, July.
    6. Sanders, David & Ward, Hugh & Marsh, David & Fletcher, Tony, 1987. "Government Popularity and the Falklands War: A Reassessment," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 281-313, July.
    7. R. J. Johnston & C. J. Pattie, 2001. "'It's the Economy, Stupid' - But Which Economy? Geographical Scales, Retrospective Economic Evaluations and Voting at the 1997 British General Election," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 309-319.
    8. Dunleavy, Patrick, 1979. "The Urban Basis of Political Alignment: Social Class, Domestic Property Ownership, and State Intervention in Consumption Processes," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(4), pages 409-443, October.
    9. Ron Johnston & Charles Pattie, 2002. "Geographical Scale, the Attribution of Credit/Blame, Local Economic Circumstances, and Retrospective Economic Voting in Great Britain 1997: An Extension of the Model," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 20(3), pages 421-438, June.
    10. Charles Pattie & Ron Johnston, 1999. "Context, Conversation and Conviction: Social Networks and Voting at the 1992 British General Election," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 47(5), pages 877-889, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kennedy Stewart & Patricia MacIver & Stewart Young, 2008. "Testing and Improving Voters' Political Knowledge," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(4), pages 403-418, December.

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