The NatCen Blog

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Posted on 02 August 2018 by Tahmineh Hendron, Senior Project Manager

The Personal is Statistical: ‘Breast is best’ but support for mothers is what matters

In our monthly series, The Personal is Statistical, we'll be talking about where statistics have interacted with our personal lives. As part of World Breastfeeding Week, Tahmineh Hendron reflects on the contrast between the theory and reality of breastfeeding.
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Tags: GPs, breastfeeding, children, children's nutrition, nutrition
Posted on 18 July 2018 by Alun Humphrey, Group Head

Why are young people driving less than previous generations?

Big changes are occurring among young people’s travel behaviour, and what this means for the future has again been highlighted today.
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Posted on 16 July 2018 by Emily Tanner, Head of Children, Families & Work

The personal is statistical: SATs and stress

Interim results data published this week show that a higher proportion of 10-11 year olds have achieved the national standards in maths and literacy than in previous years.
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Tags: Children (3), Mental health (3), Schools (1), children, primary schools, schools
Posted on 06 July 2018 by Nancy Kelley, Deputy Chief Executive

The personal is statistical: Pride of my life

Over the last year, I’ve talked a lot about one particular graph - British views on same-sex relationships. It’s the clearest example of a wider trend towards more liberal social values. It’s also one of the fastest-changing social attitudes we have tracked over the decades.
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Posted on 20 June 2018 by Sophie Pilley, Senior Researcher

Looking for a career in social research? Here's my advice

I was recently invited to join a panel of alumni speakers at the University of Surrey to talk about my career as a social researcher; the event was designed for us to talk about how we got into our current roles, and to offer advice to students within the Sociology department.
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Tags: career advice, jobs, Careers
Posted on 20 June 2018 by Kirby Swales, Director of Survey Research Centre

Taking a positive view on ageing: making the most of the latest data on the older population

‘Ageing’ is never far from the news. There is regular commentary about the need to challenge ageism in our society and prepare for additional costs on the welfare state. However, we know vanishingly little about what older people themselves actually think of themselves and their experiences.
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Tags: Ageing, ELSA, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
Posted on 19 June 2018 by Sophie Pilley, Senior Researcher

How we tested tools designed to help homeless people with gambling addiction

At the National Centre for Social Research, it’s important to us that our work has a positive impact on society – to ensure that social research can really help to improve lives.
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Posted on 12 June 2018 by John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow

The Lords Amendments – What do voters want MPs to do?

Tomorrow and Wednesday, the House of Commons will consider the 15 amendments that the House of Lords made to the EU Withdrawal Bill against the government’s wishes.
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Tags: Brexit, House of Lords, MPs, Parliament, voting, politics
Posted on 31 May 2018 by Jonah Bury, Researcher

What does the research tell us about homophobia in football?

“I'm coming out about my homosexuality because I want to move the discussion about homosexuality among professional sportspeople forwards,” former Germany international Thomas Hitzlsperger explained when coming out as gay in January 2014, a few months after retiring from professional football in September 2013.
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Tags: Football, sport, LGBT, homophobia, attitudes
Posted on 25 May 2018 by Professor Jane Green, British Election Study

Electoral Shocks: Professor Jane Green on the Sir Roger Jowell Memorial Lecture

On 21 May 2018, Professor Jane Green delivered the fifth annual Sir Roger Jowell Memorial Lecture, in honour of the famed statistician (and NatCen's co-founder). In this blog she shares some of her insights from the lecture, on the subject of electoral shocks and the increasing volatility of voters in British elections:
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