Scottish Election Survey, 1997

The British General Election Study (BGES) series is the longest academic series of nationally representative probability sample surveys in the country. Its purpose is to investigate the changing elements of electoral behaviour in modern Britain and has been conducted after every general election since 1964.
Prior to 1992 BGES surveys have excluded electors living in the 5 constituencies in the Scottish highlands and islands north of the Caledonian canal because the small and scattered electorate there cannot be interviewed cost-effectively.

The aims of the 1997 Scottish Election Survey are:

• to contribute to the construction of a time-series on electoral change at a time when political divergence is one of the key features of political behaviour within the UK
• to model political behaviour and attitudes in Scotland both with regard to Britain as a whole, the nations and regions of the UK, as well as within Scotland itself
• to understand nationalism in Scotland in the wider European context
• to provide a valuable benchmark for assessing the outcomes of Scottish parliament elections and against which to assess future constitutional change.