Survey of election agents for study of constituency campaigning at the 2015 British general election

Abstract copyright data collection owner.

This data collection consists of a survey of elections agents from the Conservative Party, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru (PC) and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) conducted immediately after the British general election of 2015. The survey covers details of the preparations for the campaign, organisation and strategy, and campaign and polling day activities. In addition, it covers an evaluation of the administration of the campaign. Surveys were sent to all agents and the dataset comprises responses from 244 Conservative Agents; 336 Labour Agents; 332 Liberal Democrat Agents; 31 SNP Agents; 21 Plaid Cymru Agents; and 204 UKIP Agents.

Project description:

Constituency level campaigning has become crucial to the electoral strategies of all the major parties in Britain, and a significant academic literature - initially regarded as 'revisionist' - has emerged. This work - now regarded as mainstream - has revealed many things including how campaigns have changed over time; how parties have responded to wider changes in society, the electorate, and within their own parties; and the degree to which parties are able to harness their resources effectively to fight elections. They have also informed discussions about power within parties - how far central party organisations are able to coordinate constituency party campaigns and how much is left to the grass-roots. And finally, they have furthered our understanding of how voters respond to cues from the parties, and the extent to which voters can be mobilized.

This study will examine constituency campaigning at the 2015 British General Election and will provide not only a continuation of a unique and valuable time series that began in 1992, but also a programme of innovation that furthers our understanding of the impact, role, and nature of campaigns in the modern political arena. The study will seek to address four underlying research questions: 1) What is the electoral impact of constituency campaigns?; 2) How have campaign techniques evolved?; 3) How are party campaign organisations evolving?; 4) What is the impact of constituency campaigns on different groups of electors?

Keywords:
elections, campaigning, political parties, constituency, great britain, 2016

Cite this dataset as:
Fisher, J., Cutts, D., Fieldhouse, E., 2016. Survey of election agents for study of constituency campaigning at the 2015 British general election. UK Data Service. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-852527.

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Creators

Justin Fisher
Rights Holder
Brunel University London

David Cutts
University of Bath

Edward Fieldhouse
University of Manchester

Coverage

Collection date(s):

From 8 May 2015 to 30 September 2015

Geographical coverage:

Great Britain

Documentation

Data collection method:

Hard copy questionnaires with pre-paid response envelopes sent to all agents from the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Plaid Cymru and UKIP in all parliamentary constituencies where their party was fielding a candidate, except that of the Speaker. This was therefore the entire population and no sampling was required. All respondents were also given the option of completing the survey online.

Funders

Economic and Social Research Council
https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000269

Constituency Campaigning in the 2015 British General Election
ES/M007251/1

Publication details

Publication date: 7 December 2016
by: UK Data Service

Version: 1

Official landing page URL: https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-852527

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-852527

URL for this record: https://researchdata.bath.ac.uk/id/eprint/341

Contact information

Please contact the Research Data Service in the first instance for all matters concerning this item.

Contact person: David Cutts

Departments:

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Politics, Languages and International Studies