Web Survey Bibliography
Title Report of the Inquiry into the 2015 British general election opinion polls
Author Sturgis, P., Baker, N., Callegaro, M., Fisher, St., Green, J., Jennings, W., Kuha, J., Lauderdale, B., Smith, Pa.
Source London: Market Research Society and British Polling Council (BPC)
Year 2016
Access date 01.04.2016
Full text pdf (2.082 KB)
Abstract The opinion polls in the weeks and months leading up to the 2015 General Election in UK substantially underestimated the lead (i.e. almost zero instead of 6%) of the Conservatives over Labour in the national vote share and they were some of the most inaccurate since election polling first began in the UK in 1945. The report considers eight different potential causes and concludes that the primary cause was unrepresentative samples (i.e. over-represented Labour supporters). The mode of data collection was not the cause, but the non-probabilty nature of sample selection. The report concludes with recommendations to improve procedures.
Access/Direct link NCRM Homepage (asbtract) / (full text)
Year of publication2016
Bibliographic typeReports, seminars
Web survey bibliography - Sturgis, P. (8)
- The Failure of the Polls: Lessons Learned from the 2015 UK Polling Disaster; 2017; Sturgis, P.
- Fieldwork Effort, Response Rate, and the Distribution of Survey Outcomes: A Multilevel Meta-analysis; 2016; Sturgis, P.; Williams, Jo.; Brunton-Smith, I.; Moore, J.
- Report of the Inquiry into the 2015 British general election opinion polls; 2016; Sturgis, P., Baker, N., Callegaro, M., Fisher, St., Green, J., Jennings, W., Kuha, J., Lauderdale, B...
- The Cathie Marsh lecture: What does the failure of the polls tell us about the future of survey research...; 2015; Sturgis, P., Matheson, J.
- Nonresponse and measurement error in an online panel; 2014; Roberts, C., Allum, N., Sturgis, P.
- Improving Survey Methods: Lessons from Recent Research; 2014; Engel, U., Jann, B., Lynn, P., Scherpenzeel, A., Sturgis, P.
- Advanced Research Methods Training in the UK: Current Provision and Future Strategies; 2013; Moley, S., Wiles, R., Sturgis, P.
- Attitudes over time: The psychology of panel conditioning; 2009; Sturgis, P., Allum, N., Brunton-Smith, I.