Dataset for "Does independent regulation of MPs’ pay and expenses improve political trust? Evidence from a survey experiment"
The data was collected as part of a political science research project on political trust.
The two data files contain the raw data from two online survey experiments which sought to test the effect of pay and expenses information on political trust. The surveys together received 1957 responses.
The R code used to analyse the data files is also made available.
Cite this dataset as:
Bramah, H.,
2025.
Dataset for "Does independent regulation of MPs’ pay and expenses improve political trust? Evidence from a survey experiment".
Bath: University of Bath Research Data Archive.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.15125/BATH-01493.
Export
Data
240917 - Expenses data.csv
application/csv (454kB)
Registered users only
Responses to an online survey experiment testing the effects of information about MPs' expenses on political trust. The survey was fielded in the UK between 28 Aug - 5 Sept 2024 via Prolific. The responses were collected in QuestionPro.
240920 - pay data.csv
application/csv (398kB)
Registered users only
Responses to an online survey experiment testing the effects of information about MPs' pay on political trust. The survey was fielded in the UK between 28 -29 August 2024 via Prolific. The responses were collected in QuestionPro.
Code
250227 R code … data analysis.R
text/plain (40kB)
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
This is the R code used to analyse both the pay and expenses datasets
Access restrictions apply
Creators
Helen Bramah
University of Bath
Contributors
University of Bath
Rights Holder
Coverage
Collection date(s):
From August 2024 to September 2024
Documentation
Data collection method:
The experiments were pre-registered with the Open Science Framework, where they are explained in full. Briefly, in each survey, participants were randomly allocated into one of four groups: a control group and 3 treatment conditions, which received varying levels of information about pay or expenses. Participants were also asked a battery of questions about political trust, their views on whether pay/expenses were set at the right level, and questions about their level of interest in politics and party allegiance. Additional demographic information, such as age, was provided by the survey platform (Prolific) and is also included in the spreadsheet.
Technical details and requirements:
Participants were recruited through Prolific. Survey data was collected via QuestionPro. The data can be viewed in MS Excel. The code was written in R Studio using R version 4.2.2.
Additional information:
See documents attached.
Methodology link:
Bramah, H., 2024. How does information about MPs’ pay and expenses affect citizens’ trust judgements? OSF Registries. Available from: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/M783F.
Documentation Files
Expenses data … headings.docx
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document (20kB)
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Key to understand the 'Expenses data' spreadsheet
Pay survey - column headings.docx
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document (19kB)
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Key to understand the 'Pay data' spreadsheet
Templates
Survey - flow diagram.pdf
application/pdf (34kB)
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Diagram showing the order of survey questions by experimental treatment group
Expenses survey printout.pdf
application/pdf (163kB)
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Printout of the survey used to gather the expenses data
Pay survey printout.pdf
application/pdf (183kB)
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Printout of the online survey used to gather the pay data
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council
https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000269
Publication details
Publication date: 1 August 2025
by: University of Bath
Version: 1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15125/BATH-01493
URL for this record: https://researchdata.bath.ac.uk/1493
Contact information
Please contact the Research Data Service in the first instance for all matters concerning this item.
Contact person: Helen Bramah
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Politics, Languages and International Studies
