Constituency Campaigning in the 1997 General Election

UKDA study number:3922

Principal Investigators

Denver, D.T.
Hands, G.
Lancaster University. Department of Politics and International Relations

Sponsor

Economic and Social Research Council

Distributed by

UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester.

August 1999

Bibliographic Citation

All works which use or refer to these materials should acknowledge these sources by means of bibliographic citation. To ensure that such source attributions are captured for bibliographic indexes, citations must appear in footnotes or in the reference section of publications. The bibliographic citation for this data collection is:

Denver, D.T. and Hands, G., Constituency Campaigning in the 1997 General Election [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive [distributor], August 1999. SN: 3922.

Acknowledgement

Any publication, whether printed, electronic or broadcast, based wholly or in part on these materials, should acknowledge the original data creators, depositors or copyright holders, the funders of the Data Collections (if different) and the UK Data Archive, and to acknowledge Crown Copyright where appropriate.
Any publication, whether printed, electronic or broadcast, based wholly or in part on these materials should carry a statement that the original data creators, depositors or copyright holders, the funders of the Data Collections (if different) and the UK Data Archive bear no responsibility for their further analysis or interpretation.

Copyright:
D. Denver and G. Hands

Disclaimer

Although all efforts are made to ensure the quality of the materials, neither the original data creators, depositors or copyright holders, the funders of the Data Collections, nor the UK Data Archive bear any responsibility for the accuracy or comprehensiveness of these materials.

All rights reserved. No part of these materials may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the UK Data Archive.

UK Data Archive
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
Essex C04 3SQ
United Kingdom
www.data-archive.ac.uk

3922 . Constituency Campaigning in the 1997 General Election

Depositor:

Denver, D.T. , Lancaster University. Department of Politics and International Relations

Principal Investigators:

Denver, D.T. , Lancaster University. Department of Politics and International Relations

Hands, G. , Lancaster University. Department of Politics and International Relations

Sponsor:

Economic and Social Research Council
Grant Number: R000222027

Abstract:

Over the last decade, there has been a renewal of interest in, and revaluation of, the effects of local constituency campaigning on the part of both academics and political parties. From the 1950s to the 1980s, as campaigning became more 'nationalised' - dominated by party leaders and focused almost exclusively on the national mass media - local constituency campaigns came to be seen as rather meaningless side-shows. During the 1980s, however, a significant 'revisionist' literature appeared, suggesting that effective and intense constituency campaigning could have a significant impact in terms of improved electoral performance by the parties and, partly as a consequence of this, the parties themselves have recently placed much more emphasis on local campaigning.
Three studies have been conducted in this series so far and are currently available from the UK Data Archive (UKDA). These cover the 1992 election (held under SN:3587), the 1997 election (SN:3922) and the 2001 election (SN:4508).
For the second study in the series, conducted after the 1997 general election, the principal investigators aimed to monitor changes in campaign techniques, develop further an index of campaign strength and to analyse the impact of variations in campaign intensity upon constituency election results.

Main Topics:

The dataset comprises the responses to a postal survey of election agents of the major parties - Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru - in 1997. The questionnaire was concerned with campaign preparations, organisation and activity and details of polling-day operations.

Coverage:

Time Period Covered: March 1997 - May 1997
Dates of Fieldwork: 2 May 1997 - 30 September 1997
Country: Great Britain
Spatial Units: (A)Parliamentary Constituencies; (B)Standard Regions
Observation Units: Individuals; Institutions/organisations
Kind of Data: Alpha/numeric data; Individual (micro) level

Universe Sampled:

Location of Units of Observation: National
Population: Units studied are the constituency organisations of the major political parties. Responses to the questionnaire were sought from election agents, or persons who ran the parties' 1997 general election campaigns, in individual Parliamentary constituencies in Great Britain.

Methodology:

Time Dimensions: Repeated cross-sectional study
surveys took place after the 1992, 1997 and 2001 general elections.
Sampling Procedures: No sampling (total universe)
Number of Units: 2029 (target) 1382 (obtained)
Method of Data Collection: Postal survey

Language(s) of Written Materials:

Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:

Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.
Availability: ESDS Access and Preservation, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: help@esds.ac.uk

Date of First Release:

17 August 1999

Copyright:

D. Denver and G. Hands

File last updated:

17 June 2005