Professor Roger Jowell is one of the most eminent social scientists in Britain. He co-founded and directs the European Social Survey (ESS) which in 2005 won the Descartes Prize. This award is given annually for excellence in science, and until now has never been won by a social science project. He came to Britain from South Africa in 1964, and in 1969 set up Social Community and Planning Research (SCPR), which later changed its name to the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).
“The important thing about social survey research is that it takes in several different disciplines, such as political science, social statistics, sociology and psychology. I began my academic life as an economist. As soon as I graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1964, I came to Britain - initially just to gain a broader perspective on my life. It wasn't that I had to leave, although as President of the Students’ Union I’d been heavily involved in student politics and anti-apartheid activities. At that time students were more or less immune from prosecution. But then things changed, and a few months after I arrived in Britain I got word that many of my close friends had been arrested. I realised then that I couldn’t go back - it wouldn’t have been safe. Once I got my British passport, I was able to go back fairly regularly.
I left academia altogether for a while once I got to Britain, and worked for a market research firm for five years. Then in 1969 I set up Social Community and Planning Research (SCPR), which later became the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). I was Director for thirty years before moving to City University three years ago to become a Research Professor and to set up the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys. Without being modest, I’ve been very lucky that all the projects I’ve set up have lasted. Given that my interest is in social change, I suppose they’ve all had to last. It’s been good to see them endure and develop, notably NatCen itself and the British Social Attitudes series. I also worked for eighteen years as co-director of the ESRC's British Election Study series.
All attitude surveys have to incorporate a range of other measures such as demographic change, behavioural characteristics and people’s attitudes across a range of subjects. The British Social Attitudes survey is a huge illustration of the myths and assumptions people have about attitudes. There are big contradictions between people’s attitudes and their actual behaviour. For example, we all know that smoking is ‘wrong’ but some of us still do it nonetheless.
It took us over five years to get the European Social Survey (ESS) off the ground and to get the funding in place. There were existing cross-national surveys, but these were generally done to lower standards than those undertaken within countries. So we had to develop and refine a range of techniques and methodologies to overcome the many cross-cultural barriers to achieving the rigour we wanted. We worked on the concept between 1995 and 2001 before the project was established properly in 2001. It’s closely modelled on the British Social Attitude survey and other good examples of national studies from America and Germany. We used them and some of the better existing examples of cross-national studies to help us solve some of the problems that existed with methodologies - things like sampling, and questionnaire design. Since 2001 we’ve been core funded by the EU and the European Science Foundation. The ESRC funds the British side of the project and the research. Recently, we also won a conference on comparative research as part of the ESRC’s Research Methods Programme.
The great thing about the ESS data, and what it offers everyone - not just social scientists, but journalists, and members of the general public who are interested - is its accessibility. Even as Principal Investigators, we have no privileged access to the data. Anyone can access it online and use the ESS dataset as soon as it’s available in a way that isn’t possible with other projects of this kind. I’d say the project’s two hallmarks are rigour and transparency. In addition to surveying attitudes, we’ve got to view these against the broader context in individual countries. So, for example, if there’s recently been a bomb attack in a country, that could affect people’s attitudes to a range of things. We also make sure we highlight every national deviation from the specification, so scholars know where they can or can’t make proper comparisons.
Winning the Descartes Prize is hugely important for the social sciences. It’s the first time a social science project has ever been shortlisted, let alone won. The prize is given ‘for excellence in scientific research’, so it’s an indication, we hope, that social science has finally breached the dam that’s divided us from the other sciences. It’s also a recognition of the value of social science in the wider context. We haven’t yet decided how we’re going to use the €200,000 prize money, though we have some ideas. We’ve considered advertising for Descartes Prize Research Fellows in each of the six institutes that host the ESS, who could spend up to a year working on specific projects like writing a book from the data, or compiling another training model. We’ll make the decision collectively once we’ve had more time to think about it.
One of the great joys of my life has been to go back to South Africa since 1994. I’m impressed by how mature the country is as a new democracy. There’s just such an amazing belief in the country amongst all sections of the population. It was a great honour to be asked to help set up the South African equivalent of the British Social Attitudes survey which I worked on for several years. It’s a wonderful place to work, and it felt like the two parts of my life had finally come together."