Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Validation studies of survey data are typically limited to a very small number of survey items, to cross-sectional estimates, and to particular sub-populations for which access to records happens to be available. We report here on a validation study carried out in the UK in 2003 with large numbers of validated items (20+ for all respondents, 40+ for employed respondents, 60+ for some), longitudinal data, and based upon a large national sample. However, the representativeness of the validation sample obtained depends on the co-operation of both survey respondents and the providers of validation data and on error in the matching process. In the UK, matching survey data with administrative records is not common practice.

In this paper, we investigate several aspects of the feasibility of validation studies. We focus on the validation of income and employment data. Two validation sources were used: Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit data and employers' records. The former provided histories of benefit receipt and tax credits (e.g. for child / disability / housing / unemployment benefits, pensions and income support). The latter provided information on occupation and employment status, gross and net pay, membership of company pension schemes and industry sector.

In the survey interview, respondents were asked for written permission both to obtain their DWP records and to contact their employer. They were also asked to provide information that would facilitate the validation: National Insurance number (NINO) and employer contact details. Subsequently, DWP records were extracted using a non-hierarchical matching strategy, based on different combinations of identifying variables obtained in the survey (NINO, sex, date of birth, name and postcode), and a survey of employers was carried out (mail, with telephone follow-up).

We report permission rates, proportions providing matching items, match rates for the DWP data and response rates to the employer survey. We identify correlates of these measures of success at each stage of the validation process in terms of substantive characteristics of the survey respondents. Variation by subgroups is identified and implications for the representativeness of the validation sample are discussed. The analyses will be extended to address potential bias in conclusions regarding validity of survey reports.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The 'New Labour' Party came into office in 1997 committed to 'modernise', among other institutions, UK local government. A 'flagship' policy in its modernisation agenda was to replace the traditional committee system with, for the first time in the UK, executive-based local government, headed preferably by directly elected executive mayors. The first section of this paper outlines the origins of this mayoral policy, its legislative embodiment in the Local Government Act 2000, and its implementation. It outlines the three executive models that constituted the restricted choice available to most local authorities and the consultations that councils were required to undertake, including the statutory referendums required prior to the introduction of a directly elected mayor. It concludes with the recent election of the first eight of these English mayors and the political embarrassment that several of the elections produced for the Government. The second main section of the paper reviews these events with reference to the main programme theme of APSA 2002: the contribution (or lack of it) of political science research to policy development. Its conclusion is that two obvious opportunities for lesson-drawing - learning from experience in other countries, including the US, and learning through experimentation and the piloting of different executive models in selected UK authorities - were largely ignored, and that this resistance to lesson-drawing has been at least one of the major reasons for the low and generally negative impact of the Government's mayoral policy to date. As for the rhetorical question in the sub-title, there was a moment when it looked possible that the chance injection of a 'Giuliani factor' following the events of 9/11 might stimulate public interest and acceptance of the idea of elected mayors … but it didn't!

Publication Type: Proceeding

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Constitutional and institutional restructuring in the UK in the 1990s resulted in the creation of new parliamentary spaces, structures of governance and party dynamics. Another outcome has been an historic shift in the gendered distribution of political power with high proportions of women elected to the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales. Issues of gender are often neglected in accounts of political change and constitution-building, however, women activists and feminist ideas were important elements in the shaping of constitutional reform within the UK. In addition to the achievement of high levels of descriptive representation for women as members of parliament (MSPs) and government ministers, activists also succeeding in building gender concerns into the fabric of the new parliamentary and governmental blueprints and structures. This paper focuses on the Scottish case and draws upon research undertaken as part of the UK Devolution and Constitutional Change Programme (Economic and Social Research Council) to examine the impact of devolution – including the substantial presence of female office-holders – on women’s substantive representation and citizenship.

The paper examines the institutional performance of the first Scottish Parliament and Executive (1999-2003) and policy developments in a single field, domestic abuse, using the framework criteria of recognition, representation, accountability and outcomes. It is contended that high levels of descriptive representation and the new constitutional arrangements and institutional designs in Scotland are mutually reinforcing and have resulted in some gains in the substantive representation of women. However such representation is complex and contingent upon issue and political context. It argues that the complexity and contingency of representation in post devolution Scotland requires ‘thick conceptions’ of substantive representation comprising a whole-system approach rather than a narrow focus on whether or not women representatives ‘act for’ women.

Domestic abuse policy developments provide evidence of clear and tangible gains for women across all our dimensions of evaluation. In this policy area, at least, we can argue that the conditions for citizenship have been enhanced through ‘thick’ substantive representation: by female MSPs and ministers; by regendered political institutions as a whole; through institutionalised mechanisms and channels; and via the enhanced access and voice of organised women; by the representation of domestic abuse as misrecognition and maldistribution which blights women’s lives and undermines their opportunity and capacity to participate on a par with men; and by new accountability structures and relationships that counter legacies of institutional gender bias and capture. However, opportunities for women – and men - to ‘act for’ women are constrained, sometimes dramatically, by partisan politics, institutional and political considerations and the prevailing norms of ‘traditional’ political culture. In general, the substantive representation of women is constrained, sometimes confounded, by myriad political, institutional, organisational and discursive constraints.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Studies show that voters make judgements about politicians – their competence, honesty, warmth, and so on – on the basis of physical appearance, and that these judgements can influence voting behaviour. This raises the possibility of two different gender gaps: 1) female and male candidates may be evaluated differently, ultimately affecting their relative electoral performance; 2) female and male voters may react differently to candidate images. We explore this using a stacked dataset of evaluations of 36 UK MPs by 368 undergraduate students, and find evidence of both gender gaps. First, we confirm the persistent finding that voters assign ‘warmth’ traits to female and ‘strength’ traits to male candidates. Such stereotyping has an interesting impact on electoral preference: male candidates were judged more by warmth, female candidates more by strength, suggesting that stereotypical traits were taken for granted. Second, we find male voters more likely than female voters to see male candidates as stronger, and to prioritise strength in voting. Our results also support the view that gender and appearance heuristics are relied on most by those with little other basis for judgement, such as non-partisans. Hence, while gender effects on voting are weak when averaged across the whole electorate, they could be much stronger for (expanding) sub-groups of voters.

Supporting Publications:
Supporting Document