The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion and
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Posted on 20 November 2020 by Franziska Marcheselli, Senior Researcher

Life during the COVID-19 pandemic for children and young people

In October, NHS Digital – in collaboration with NatCen, the Office for National Statistics, University of Cambridge and University of Exeter – published the latest survey in a series which provides England’s Official Statistics on trends in child mental health.
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Tags: Covid-19, anxiety, children, loneliness, mental health, public health, young people
Posted on 03 November 2020 by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow ScotCen

Is Brexit fuelling support for independence?

The rise in support for independence is now well established in the polls. The trend first became apparent last year, when the level of support for Yes increased from around the 45% mark at which it had appeared to be stuck ever since the 2014 independence referendum to an average of 49%. This figure then edged up a little further to 50% by the end of January this year, when the UK formally left the European Union.
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Tags: Brexit, Scottish Social Attitudes, Scottish independence, What Scotland Thinks, political attitudes
Posted on 29 October 2020 by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow ScotCen

Is Scotland More Egalitarian than England?

It is often argued that Scotland is more left-wing than England. After all, the relative weakness of the Conservative party north of the border would seem a clear testament to that being the case. And the claim, which has often been made by SNP spokespersons, fits one of the key arguments that the party presents in favour of independence, that is, that for so long as it is part of the Union, Scotland is always at risk of having the realisation of its preferences stymied by the less progressive views of those living south of the border.
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Tags: BSA37, British Social Attitudes, ISSP, International Social Survey Programme, Scottish Social Attitudes, inequality
Posted on 08 October 2020 by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow ScotCen

The Legacy and Future of Brexit

Today sees the publication of two chapters on Brexit as part of the latest British Social Attitudes report. One examines the legacy of Brexit, that is, the impact that the process of leaving has had on our attitudes towards how we are governed. The other looks at what people hope Brexit will bring in future, that is, what they think the UK government should do with the new powers and responsibilities that it will acquire at the end of the transition period in December.
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Tags: BSA 37, Brexit, British Social Attitudes, political attitudes, public trust
Posted on 29 September 2020 by Alex Scholes, Researcher ScotCen

Twenty years of changing attitudes towards Holyrood and Westminster

Today sees the publication by the Scottish Government of a Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) report on how attitudes in Scotland towards the devolved and UK-wide institutions have evolved since the Scottish Parliament was created in 1999.
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Tags: public trust, SSA, ScotCen, Scotland, Scottish Social Attitudes, elections
Posted on 18 September 2020 by Gillian Prior, Director

I hear you knocking…

In this article Gillian Prior, our Head of Surveys, Data and Analysis, considers a new NatCen panel survey examining the public’s views on face-to-face interviews, as well as the current possibilities for restarting face-to-face fieldwork on large-scale surveys.
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Tags: Covid-19, NatCen Panel, fieldwork, methods, safety
Posted on 24 August 2020 by Padmini Iyer, Senior Researcher

An intersectional approach to equality, diversity and inclusion at NatCen

This blog post is a collaboration between the co-chairs of NatCen’s Equality and Diversity Group, Padmini Iyer and Shivonne Gates, and the co-chairs of the NatCen LGBT+ Staff Network, Amelia Benson and Emma Corteen.
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Tags: BME researchers, LGBT, equality and diversity, inclusion, life at NatCen
Posted on 21 August 2020 by Martin Wood, Director of Longitudinal Surveys

Longitudinal methods: innovation and development during Covid-19

The UK’s longitudinal social research studies have stepped forward during the Covid-19 crisis to offer a means of understanding the outbreak’s impact on work, family life, wellbeing and health-related behaviour.
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Tags: Covid-19, ESRC, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Understanding Society, fieldwork, longitudinal studies, methodology and innovation
Posted on 18 August 2020 by Shivonne Gates, Senior Researcher

Navigating the White research space: Experiences of BME researchers

As BME researchers early in our careers, Bethany Thompson and I regularly discussed challenges we faced in predominantly White workplaces. However, with limited experience in the workplace, we wondered if the challenges we faced were unique or shared more widely.
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Tags: BME researchers, early-career researchers, equality and diversity, event, life at NatCen, workshop
Posted on 21 July 2020 by Ceri Davies, Director, NatCen Centre for Deliberative Research

Digital engagement with citizens on the environment

Covid-19 is taking social researchers into new territory. With face-to-face fieldwork paused, researchers have been left to explore how else (if at all) they can continue existing studies. The pandemic also poses a particularly tricky question of how findings from research designed for pre-Covid-19 society should be interpreted in what will be very different future realities.
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Tags: 25 Year Environmental Plan, Covid-19, citizen engagement, deliberative research, fieldwork, online methods