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 19 January 2022 by Phoebe Weston-Stanley, Research Assistant

Current and past trends in tobacco and e-cigarette use and the impact of control measures

Despite the ever-decreasing use of tobacco, smoking remains a primary cause of early death in the developed world.
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Tags: e-cigarettes, health, health and lifestyle, smoking
Posted on 10 December 2021 by Isabel Taylor, Research Director

“Help-seekers and multi-strugglers”: Who felt the worst mental and financial effects of the pandemic?

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK in early 2020, much of the country shut down to try to prevent people contracting and passing on the virus. This meant that the way we all lived and worked changed radically almost overnight.
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Tags: COVID-19, economy, employment, financial insecurity, income, mental health
Posted on 23 November 2021 by Bea Taylor, Researcher/Analyst

The pandemic and children’s long term emotional and social development

COVID-19 has impacted the schooling, social lives, and overall wellbeing of almost every child in the UK.
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Tags: COVID-19, Study of Early Education and Development, children, education, families, inequality
Posted on 09 November 2021 by Felicity Kersting, Researcher

How has COVID-19 affected LGBT+ communities?

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the issue of inequality firmly into the spotlight in the UK. Marginalised groups have been disproportionately affected, with the crisis exacerbating pre-existing experiences of discrimination and inequality.
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Tags: COVID-19, LGBT, charities, equality and diversity, gender, sexuality
Posted on 27 October 2021

Learnings from Low Traffic Neighbourhood deliberative workshops: A moderator’s perspective

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) are a keenly debated issue with some strong perspectives. We have used deliberative research methods, bringing together residents from three areas which had undergone trials of LTNs to explore the issues in in-depth online workshops. In this blog, NatCen's Kate Belcher and Eliska Holland discuss the experiences of moderators and participants who took part in the research.
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Tags: Climate change, NatCen Centre for Deliberative Research, deliberative research, environment, public engagement, transport
Posted on 21 October 2021 by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow

Has the Pandemic Changed People’s Attitudes? – An Update

Just before the end of last year, we reported the results of the first phase of a study of the impact of the pandemic on people’s social and political attitudes.
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Tags: BSA, British Social Attitudes, COVID-19, NatCen Opinion Panel, income and welfare, inequality, social and political attitudes
Posted on 04 October 2021 by Nathan Hudson, Research Director

How can funders better support UK LGBTQ+ communities?

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and Consortium have carried out a research project for The National Lottery Community Fund exploring how all funders can better support LGBTQ+ organisations.
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Tags: COVID-19, LGBT, charities, equality and diversity, gender, sexuality
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

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