Data on Members of Parliament is notoriously non-standardised and difficult to sift through. That’s why Dr. Larissa Peixoto Gomes is sharing her database on the House of Commons.
Tag: quantitative methods
Sign up for Statistical Analysis of Parliaments and Legislatures for Dabblers workshop
In the second of our blogs from our 2017 conference, Legislatures in Uncertain Times, Ruxandra Serban, UCL, discusses different procedures used to hold Prime Ministers to account in 32 parliamentary democracies.
How do new MPs learn the institutional norms and practices of the Commons when they are first elected? Nick Dickinson, University of Exeter, discusses a new model for parliamentary socialisation.
Popular debates focus on the political class, usually its alleged careerism and self-interest. In a post originally posted on the LSE British Politics and Policy blog, and providing an update on his research on the personal side of politics, James Weinberg deconstructs the term “political class” and presents some of his findings on the personal values of those who make it up.
The PSA Parliaments & Legislatures Specialist Group, in conjunction with the British Politics Research Group at the University of Birmingham, held a methods workshop on the statistical analysis of parliaments and legislatures on the 16th September 2016. Aimed at ‘dabblers’, the workshop was organized by Stephen Bates (Birmingham), Mark Goodwin (Birmingham) and Steve McKay (Lincoln) and, using their British Academy-funded project on Select Committees as a focal point, guided participants through the research process from initial ideas through data collection, management, modelling and analysis to completed paper.
The workshop was attended by 12 post-doctoral students and researchers from across academia and the third sector and was generally well received with one participant saying “Many thanks to Stephen, Mark and Steve for an excellent workshop. I’ll be recommending it, should you decide to hold another in the future”.
Time: 11.00-15.00 (with lunch provided)
Date: Friday, 16 September 2016
Venue: University of Birmingham (Room TBC)
This workshop is aimed at those with little or no previous experience of quantitative statistics but who believe it may be useful for them in their current or future research.
The workshop will be based around the conveners’ current British Academy-funded research project on select committees. Each stage of the project – from initial inspiration through data collection and analysis to finished article – will be outlined and discussed in terms of both methodological and practical considerations so that participants have an idea of what the research process entails and what hazards and opportunities to look out for along the way. It will cover such things as finding out about available data, the different software that may be useful, and working with external stakeholders and experts.
The workshop will be run by Stephen Bates and Mark Goodwin (who are relative novices when it comes to quantitative statistics) and Steve McKay (who is an old-hand at this kind of thing).
Attendance and lunch are free but participants will have to cover their travel costs.
To register for the workshop, please email Stephen Bates (s.r.bates[at]bham[dot]ac[dot]uk).
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Summary of PhD Research Workshop
On 25 June, the specialist group (SG) held a research workshop on research methods for doctoral research students and early career academics, which provided a rich source of information and sharing of ideas between attendees.