The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion and
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Posted on 24 April 2018 by Nancy Kelley, Deputy Chief Executive

Does Britain want to stay in the EU customs union?

The parliamentary passage of the Brexit bill remains stormy with Monday’s Lords vote in favour of an amendment to keep the UK in the EU customs union. The Commons get their chance to vote on this critical amendment on Thursday.
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Tags: Brexit, customs union, economy, free trade, politics
Posted on 13 April 2018 by Catherine Fenton, Researcher

Translating personal well-being questions into Sylheti and Urdu

Over the past 10 years, well-being has gained increasing traction as a subject for the social sciences – but measuring this complex concept can be difficult.
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Tags: QDT, Translation, Wellbeing, Cognitive Testing, methodology, ONS
Posted on 05 April 2018 by Kirby Swales, Director of Survey Research Centre

Improving and using data on income at the small area level

Measuring change in household and individual income is a key aim of many social surveys and social policy analyses. The latest official data shows a small rise in income for the latest available year, after a number of years of stagnating or even declining incomes.
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Tags: Consumer data, ONS, housing, income
Posted on 28 March 2018 by Kirby Swales, Director of Survey Research Centre

Integration and cohesion: a puzzle for policy makers and social scientists

‘Do we live in an integrated and cohesive society’? ‘Is there a problem that we need to solve and, if so, how?’ ‘How can surveys and other research inform this debate’? These are some of the questions posed at a workshop held last week as part of British Academy Cohesive Societies programme.
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Posted on 22 March 2018 by John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow

There's little evidence of a pro-Labour youth-quake in the 2017 General Election

A key plank of Jeremy Corbyn’s strategy for winning power is to secure the votes of the disaffected and the disenchanted who do not normally think it worth their while to make the journey to the polling station.
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Tags: General Election, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, Corbyn, politics
Posted on 21 March 2018 by Matt Barnard, Acting Head of Crime, Justice & Attitudes

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, how do we build trust around data collection?

The scandal over Cambridge Analytica’s use of data harvested from Facebook users is yet another sign that we are now in an age when the collection, storage and use of information has moved from the realm of ‘geeks’ to the status of potential political bombshell.
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Posted on 21 March 2018 by Ian Simpson, Senior Researcher

Why has voter turnout recovered?

Turnout reached a twenty year high of 69% in last year’s General Election. What is behind this recovery in electoral participation in Britain? Analysis of the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) data by John Curtice and Ian Simpson offers some important clues.
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Tags: politics, vote, voting, Conservatives, Labour, election, general election
Posted on 20 March 2018 by Guy Goodwin, Chief Executive

How do British people feel about transphobia and transgender issues?

Most British people today are accepting of same-sex relationships. But while Britons may be more accepting of the “LGB” in LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender), it has been less clear how they perceive the “T”.
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Posted on 14 March 2018 by Katriina Lepanjuuri, Senior Researcher

Nailing down the gig economy

The trend of using online platforms to source and offer on-demand jobs and unused assets has grown substantially in the recent years, drawing more and more interest from all sides to the number of people employed in this sector and the practices within it.
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Tags: economy, gig economy, income work, sharing economy
Posted on 13 March 2018 by Luca Tiratelli, Media Relations & Events Intern

The Personal is Statistical: Why do you drink?

Why do you drink? It’s a personal question, and yet data from the 2015 British Social Attitudes survey suggests that the answer might not be that personal at all. In fact, it seems that quite a large part of the answers can be explained by simply by looking at the broad categories that you fall into as a person.
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Tags: binge-drinking, drinking, health, British Social Attitudes, Health Survey for England, alcohol