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.

To keep up-to-date with our latest blog posts and reports, subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Posted on 15 January 2021 by Natasha Phillips, Researcher

Conducting remote cognitive interviews: telephone or video conferencing?

NatCen’s Methodology & Innovation Hub includes a team of experts who specialise in developing and testing survey questions to ensure measures elicit high quality data. Our day-to-day work often involves conducting interviews with members of the public to assess whether they understand survey questions as intended and can provide valid and reliable answers.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: COVID-19, cognitive interviewing, fieldwork, methodology, telephone interviews, video interviews
Posted on 16 December 2020 by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow

Has COVID-19 shifted public attitudes?

Now that the prospect of an end to the pandemic is in sight, the question of what post-pandemic Britain should look like will soon become a pressing one. Should everyday life and public policy return to ‘normal’ – or does COVID-19 represent an opportunity to reshape the country’s social and economic life and the role that government plays in facilitating it?
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: British Social Attitudes, COVID-19, income and welfare, social and political attitudes
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.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: 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.
Read the rest of this entry

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.
Read the rest of this entry

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.
Read the rest of this entry

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.
Read the rest of this entry

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.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: 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.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: BME researchers, LGBT, equality and diversity, inclusion, life at NatCen
Posted on 21 August 2020 by Martin Wood, Director

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.
Read the rest of this entry

Tags: ESRC, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Understanding Society, fieldwork, longitudinal studies, methodology and innovation