Skip to main content

Part of the book series: Contemporary Political Studies Series ((CONTPOLSTUD))

Abstract

This opening chapter looks at the history of opinion polling in Britain, taking in the principal developments in polling from the 1930s onwards as well as considering the latest changes affecting polling practice, particularly the technological innovations during the 1980s. The chapter is relatively brief because more detailed histories are already easily available, specifically those of Worcester (1983: chapter 4; 1991: parts I and II) and Marsh (1982: chapter 2).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Gallup, G. (ed.) (1976) The Gallup International Public Opinion Polls, Great Britain 1937–1975, New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodder-Williams, R. (1970) Public Opinion Polls and British Politics, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynn, P. and S. Purdon (1994) Time-series and lap-tops: the change to computer-assisted interviewing’, in R. Jowell, J. Curtice, L. Brook and D. Ahrendt (eds) British Social Attitudes 11th Report, Aldershot: Dartmouth, pp. 141–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, C. (1982) The Survey Method: The contribution of surveys to sociological explanation, London: Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. L. (1987), ‘The British voter and the telephone at the 1983 election’, Journal of the Market Research Society 29: 67–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser, C. A. and G. Kalton (1971) Survey Methods in Social Investigation, 2nd edn, London: Heinemann Educational.

    Google Scholar 

  • Squire, P. (1988) ‘Why the 1936 Literary Digest poll failed’, Public Opinion Quarterly 52: 125–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teer, F. and J. D. Spence (1973) Political Opinion Polls, London: Hutchinson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, R. (ed.) (1983) Political Opinion Polling: An international review, London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worcester, R. (1991) British Public Opinion: A guide to the history and methodology of political opinion polling, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 1995 David Broughton

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Broughton, D. (1995). The history of opinion polling in Britain. In: Public Opinion Polling and Politics in Britain. Contemporary Political Studies Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14907-0_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics