British Candidate Survey, 1992

1. Party members: The survey of party members includes 1,634 Labour and Conservative activists who attended twenty-six selection meetings in constituencies throughout Britain. The constituencies to which we had access were chosen to be broadly representative in terms of party, major census region, and marginality. The seats were: Beckenham, Sutton and Cheam, Feltham and Heston, Croydon North East, Putney, Brentford and Isleworth, Eastleigh, Milton Keynes North East, Gloucester, Bristol West, Colne Valley, Ashfield, Dudley West, Stoke on Trent South, Warley East, Monmouth, Manchester Withington, Glanford and Scunthorpe, Leeds South and Morley, Oldham Central and Royton, Littleborough and Saddleworth, Edinburgh Central, Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Caithness and Sutherland, and Dumfries. Fieldwork was conducted from January 1990 to October 1991. The main questionnaire was distributed in person to members at meetings, and collected there, producing a response rate of 74 per cent. A more detailed follow-up postal questionnaire was given out for self-completion (with a response rate of 43 per cent of all members at the meeting).

2. MPs and candidates: This survey includes 1,320 MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates who were selected by constituencies for the April 1992 general election at the time of the fieldwork. We included MPs and PPCs for the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Scottish National, Plaid Cymru and Green parties. We excluded incumbent MPs who were retiring and independents. Fieldwork was conducted in two main waves, from April 1990 to October 1991. Respondents were sent a postal questionnaire with covering letter, a postcard reminder, and a full reminder a month later. Out of 1913 names, we received completed replies from 1,320, which represents a response rate of 69 per cent.