Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The major aim of the study was to find ways of improving the reliability and validity of instruments for measuring social and political ideology. It represents a follow-up to the 1983 British Election Study (SN: 2005).

Main Topics:

Party identification, social and political values (equality, self-reliance, liberty); social class identity and self-coded class. Many measures from the 1983 British General Election Study (SN:2005) were repeated here. The 1983 data can be considered wave 0; the 1985 and 1986 data which this study comprises, should be considered waves 1 and 2 respectively. Individuals wishing to use the entire dataset will need to merge the files by serial number (variable SERIALNO on the three files). Measurement Scales Likert scales of social and political values.

One-stage cluster sample

57 English polling districts were selected. The sampling strategy was not designed to yield a nationally-representative sample of respondents, but simply to ensure that different types of area were covered.

Face-to-face interview