The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion and
analysis through comments from our team of experts. We’d love to hear from you, so post comments or get in touch with us.

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Posted on 06 September 2021 by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow

How do the public think social care should be funded?

This week the UK government is finally expected to announce its plans for the future funding of social care in England. But how do the public think that social care should be funded? This is one of the issues that was covered by two surveys we have conducted via NatCen’s mixed mode random probability panel since the onset of the pandemic.
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Tags: COVID-19, government, social care
Posted on 02 August 2021 by Ceri Davies, Director, NatCen Centre for Deliberative Research

Where next for online deliberation?

Online deliberative research is an emerging discipline, with much of the existing work restricted to examining internet discussion forums. The use of videoconferencing as a mode to support deliberation had, until 12 months ago at least, remained largely unexplored.
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Tags: deliberative polling, deliberative research, methods, online methods
Posted on 21 July 2021 by Guy Goodwin, Chief Executive

What next for health surveys? Lessons learnt from the pandemic

It’s a great time to be involved with health studies at a time of significant public health challenges: an ageing population, health inequalities and multiple disadvantage, the challenges of obesity, of poor mental health and so on.
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Tags: COVID-19, COVID-19 Infection Study, Mental Health of Children and Young People, conference, fieldwork, health, mental health
Posted on 22 June 2021 by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow

Five Years On: Has Brexit Been A Success?

Five years ago this week, the UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union. After two general elections and an extended parliamentary stalemate, that decision was eventually implemented on January 31 2020, though it then took another eleven months before the UK left the EU single market and Customs Union. This is therefore an appropriate moment to ask whether the public consider the Brexit process to have been a success or not.
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Tags: Brexit
Posted on 05 June 2021 by Emma Forsyth, Researcher

Engaging children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with the natural environment

As we celebrate World Environment Day this Saturday 5th June, it’s important to consider that access to nature and time spent outdoors is not equally enjoyed by all. This is especially the case among children and young people, for whom time spent in the outdoors without adults has been in decline in recent decades.
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Tags: World Environment Day, disadvantage, environment, nature
Posted on 14 May 2021 by Gianfranco Addario, Researcher

Mental Health Awareness Week: Three risk factors for depression in older people

This week it’s Mental Health Awareness Week. As we think about mental health in society today, one key group is people in their later years. How common are mental health conditions in older people, and what factors mean older people are more at risk of suffering with them?
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Tags: Depression, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Mental Health Awareness, Society Watch, ageing, mental health
Posted on 22 April 2021 by Simon Holroyd, Director of Delivery & Change

NatCen celebrates becoming carbon neutral

We’re actively reducing the resources we consume in the course of our work and using offsetting for any residual emissions.
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Tags: Earth Day, environment, social responsibility
Posted on 14 April 2021 by Arjun Liddar, Researcher

Assessing the feasibility of conducting research with children on child abuse

Evidence about the prevalence of child abuse in the UK is limited. Currently, there is no single source reporting child abuse data, robust measurements are lacking and official statistics in the UK are limited in their coverage of child abuse.
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Tags: ONS, child abuse
Posted on 19 March 2021 by Dhriti Mandalia, Senior Researcher

Sweet dreams aren’t made of these: the pandemic, mental health and sleep problems in children and young people

Many parents experience the daily struggles of children’s bedtime routines, especially when they concern younger children. If you’re a parent, you will know how frustrating this can be. The COVID-19 pandemic, together with nation-wide lockdowns and school closures, have not made it any easier on family dynamics.
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Tags: Mental Health of Children and Young People, health, mental health, sleep
Posted on 01 March 2021 by Jonah Bury, Senior Researcher

Education catch-up: is online tuition the future?

Last year the Online Tuition Pilot aimed to support disadvantaged pupils at primary and secondary schools across England through fully subsidised online tuition. The pilot saw established tutoring providers deliver online lessons to over 1400 learners throughout the summer of 2020.
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Tags: education, evaluations, pilot