Research Project
Researchers: Anthony Mughan (Associated with) , Ian McAllister (Associated with)
Full description The Australian Election Study (AES) is designed to collect data for academic research on Australian public opinion and behaviour during federal elections. It is based on a national, post-election, self-completion survey consisting mainly of multiple choice questions. The survey has been carried out since 1987, and builds on the data collected earlier in the 1967, 1969 and 1979 Australian Political Attitudes Surveys. The AES aims to provide a long-term perspective on stability and change in the political attitudes and behaviour of the Australian electorate, to investigate the changing social bases of Australian politics as the economy and society modernise and change character, and to examine the political issues prevalent in the election and assess their importance for election results. In some cases, questions are repeated in each survey so that trends can be observed over a long period of time. However, in each survey there are always new sets of questions or modules added to gauge public opinion on contemporary social and political issues in Australia. For the 1987 study sample, a systematic random sample of 2762 cases covering all States and Territories except South Australia was provided by the Australian Electoral Office from its computerised electoral roll. A supplementary sample of 299 cases was selected manually from the alphabetical list of electors in South Australia by microfiche. Respondents were mailed on the Monday following the federal election. The survey remained in the field for about 8 weeks; the bulk of the responses were received following Waves 1 and 2. Wave 1: Questionnaire, letter Week 1 Wave 2: Thank you/reminder postcard Week 2 Wave 3: Questionnaire, letter Week 5 Wave 4: Final letter, Week 7 The fourth and final wave elicited comparatively few extra responses and was not considered cost-effective; it was not used in the post-1987 surveys.
