British Election Study: October 1974, Scottish Cross-Section (ICPSR 7871)

Version Date: Jan 16, 2006

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Principal Investigator(s):
Ivor Crewe, University of Essex; Bo Saerlvik, University of Essex; James Alt, University of Essex

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07871.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The October 1974 Scottish cross-section is part of a continuing series of surveys of the British electorate, begun by David Butler and Donald Stokes at Nuffield College, Oxford, in 1963, and continued at the University of Essex. Respondents were interviewed between October 15, 1974 and January 20, 1975. Some of the respondents had been interviewed in the February 1974 cross-section or in the October 1974 cross-section, but the majority of respondents were first interviewed in the Scottish cross-section. For the Scottish cross-section, respondents answered questions relating to the mass media (e.g., attention to newspapers and television and perceived bias in newspapers), their first and second choices in the October 1974 general election, and their opinions of the Conservative, Labour, Liberal, and Scottish Nationalist political parties (e.g., perceived differences among parties, knowledge of party position/record, party identification, and the strength of party preference). Respondents also were asked for their views on a range of social issues relating to domestic and foreign affairs, with emphasis on the economy and the Common Market. Respondents were then asked how the parties stood on each issue, and how much that influenced the respondent's vote. Some of the issues included rising prices, strikes, unemployment, pensions, housing, North Sea oil, the Common Market, social services, nationalization, wage controls, voluntary agreements, devolution, the Scottish Assembly, and Scottish Government. Respondents were then asked to agree or disagree with the suggestions that government should: establish comprehensives, increase cash to health service, repatriate immigrants, control land, increase foreign aid, toughen on crime, control pollution, give workers more say, curb Communists, spend on poverty, redistribute wealth, decentralize power, preserve the countryside, and maintain Catholic schools. Respondents were also asked for their attitudes about their personal financial status, change/getting ahead, life in general, today's standards, local government, their own occupations, and the government's achievements. They also gave their predictions for Britain's future economy and of the outcome of the October election, and compared Britain's government and industry with those of Europe. Background information includes age, sex, marital status, religion, place of residence during childhood, subjective class, forced subjective class, family class, housing tenure, type and length of residence, employment status, degree of responsibility in and training for job (respondent and spouse), experience of unemployment in household, income, trade union membership (respondent and spouse), and socioeconomic group.

Citation

Crewe, Ivor, Saerlvik, Bo, and Alt, James. British Election Study: October 1974, Scottish Cross-Section. [distributor], 2006-01-16. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07871.v1

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Funding

Social Science Research Council

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

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Time Period(s)

1974-10

Data Collection Notes

  1. (1) The data and accompanying documentation are disseminated, under an agreement with the UK Data Archive, exactly as they were received, without modification by ICPSR. This agreement also provides that ICPSR will disseminate these data only for use within member institutions. (2) Users are advised that the following studies were provided by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Survey Archive, University of Essex, England:

    • British Election Study: February 1974, Cross-Section (ICPSR 7868)
    • British Election Study: 1969-1970, February 1974 Panel (ICPSR 7869)
    • British Election Study: October 1974, Cross-Section (ICPSR 7870)
    • British Election Study: October 1974, Scottish Cross-Section (ICPSR 7871)
    • British Election Study: EEC Referendum Study, 1975 (ICPSR 7872)
    • British Election Study: May 1979, Cross Section (ICPSR 8196)
    • British Election Study: [June] 1983 (ICPSR 8409)
    • British Social Attitudes Survey, 1986 (ICPSR 8910)
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Sample

Respondents were selected into a multistage, disproportionate, stratified, clustered sample.

Universe

Scottish electorate.

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

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Original Release Date

1984-06-19

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Crewe, Ivor, Bo Saerlvik, and James Alt. BRITISH ELECTION STUDY: OCTOBER 1974, SCOTTISH CROSS-SECTION. ICPSR07871-v1. Colchester, England: Ivor Crewe, et al., University of Essex [producers], 1974. Colchester, England: ESRC Data Archive/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributors], 2006-01-16. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07871.v1

2006-01-16 A PDF documentation file provided by the UK Data Archive has been made available with this collection.

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Notes