Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This dataset consists of two files: 1. The survey of party members (members.por) included 1,634 Labour and Conservative activists who attended 26 selection meetings in contituencies throughout Britain. The constituencies to which the researchers had access were chosen to be broadly representative in terms of party, major census region, and marginality. 2. The survey of parliamentary candidates (elite.por) included 1,320 MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates who were selected by constituencies for the April 1992 General Election at the time of the fieldwork. The survey included MPs and PPCs for the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Scottish National, Plaid Cymru and Green parties. Incumbent MPs who were retiring and independents were excluded. The survey also included 361 applicants who failed to be selected to become candidates.

No sampling (total universe)

Simple random sample

All parliamentary candidates were included in the survey, and a simple random sample of party members.

Postal survey

Self-completion