BBC Great British Class Survey, 2011-2013

UKDA study number:7616

Principal Investigators

Savage, M.
London School of Economics and Political Science. Department of Sociology
Devine, F.
University of Manchester. Manchester Business School

Data Collectors

British Broadcasting Corporation
GfK
Laurison, D.
Cunningham, N.
Taylor, M.
Miles, A.
Li, Y.
Wakeling, P.

Sponsors

Economic and Social Research Council
British Broadcasting Corporation

Distributed by

UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester.

April 2015

 

Bibliographic Citation

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Savage, M. and Devine, F., BBC Great British Class Survey, 2011-2013 [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive [distributor], April 2015. SN: 7616.

 

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Copyright:
M. Savage, F. Devine and British Broadcasting Corporation

 

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7616 . BBC Great British Class Survey, 2011-2013

 

Depositor:

British Broadcasting Corporation

Principal Investigators:

Savage, M. , London School of Economics and Political Science. Department of Sociology
Devine, F. , University of Manchester. Manchester Business School

Data Collectors:

British Broadcasting Corporation
GfK
Laurison, D.
Cunningham, N.
Taylor, M.
Miles, A.
Li, Y.
Wakeling, P.

Sponsors:

Economic and Social Research Council
British Broadcasting Corporation
Grant Number: RES-577-28-0001

Abstract:

The aim of the Great British Class Survey project was to understand the landscape of class and stratification in contemporary Great Britain. It was a joint project between the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Lab UK, BBC Current Affairs, and a team of academic researchers. The BBC initiated the research as part of an interest in exploring class dynamics in the UK in a new way, both theoretically and methodologically. Theoretically, the set of questions was inspired by Pierre Bourdieu's 'capitals' approach to social stratification; thus many questions are similar or identical to those in the Culture, Class, and Social Exclusion survey carried out by some of the academic team in 2003-2005. Methodologically, the GBCS was primarily carried out online, and included an interactive component as well as integration into social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The survey was widely publicized by the BBC, and completed by 326,712 respondents - 298,571 of them in the UK. Because the GBCS was a non-representative, non-random-sample survey, respondents were disproportionately university-educated and higher-income, paralleling the demographics of BBC viewership. A representative sample survey with identical questions was also carried out by the research firm GfK in order to facilitate comparison between GBCS respondents and the population of the UK as a whole.

Further information about the GBCS can be found on the BBC Great British Class Survey webpage. The web survey is no longer online, but the 'class calculator' derived from initial analysis of the GBCS is available there.

Main Topics:

Topics covered in the GBCS and GfK surveys included cultural participation and tastes, social network and social capital, income and occupation, attitudes towards social mobility, media consumption, and political participation.

Coverage:


Dates of Fieldwork: January 2011 - July 2013
(The GfK survey was conducted in April 2011.)
Country: Great Britain
Spatial Units: Regions
Observation Units: Individuals
Kind of Data: Numeric data; Individual (micro) level

Universe Sampled:

Location of Units of Observation: National
Population: The majority of respondents were based in Great Britain, which was the major focus of the study, but as the GBCS was web-based, 28,141 people outside the UK also responded to the survey (see Abstract).

Methodology:

Time Dimensions: Cross-sectional (one-time) study
Sampling Procedures: Multi-stage stratified random sample; Volunteer sample
The face-to-face GfK survey used a multi-stage stratified random sample. The web-based GBCS was a volunteer sample - see Abstract.
Number of Units: GBCS: 326,712 cases. GfK survey: 1,026 cases.
Method of Data Collection: Face-to-face interview; Web-based survey
Weighting: The GfK survey includes weights to make data representative of UK, but weighting is not applicable to the GBCS web survey.

Language(s) of Written Materials:

Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:

Access Conditions: The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage. See terms and conditions for further information.
Available to all users based in HE/FE institutions, for not-for-profit educational and research purposes only.
Availability: UK Data Service
Contact: Get in touch

Date of First Release:

8 April 2015

Copyright:

M. Savage, F. Devine and British Broadcasting Corporation


File last updated:

9 April 2015