The Qualitative Election Study of Britain: Scottish Independence Referendum Study, 2014

This dataset is a resource for scholars, researchers and students interested in qualitative electoral research, and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. It consists of transcripts, audio recordings, and associated documentation of five focus groups conducted in Dundee three months after the referendum. The transcripts include information on each participant, including their 2014 alias, sex, age group, and how they voted in the referendum.
The project is funded by Carnegie Corporation, the University of Dundee and GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
The dataset was previously published on qesb.info in 2016 as The Referendum Stories Dataset.

The project used focus group research to involve local communities in understanding the impact of the Scottish Referendum on their Scottish/British identities, the future of Scotland post-referendum, and on the polity in Scotland and the UK. It provided an opportunity for the two campaigns, Better Together and Yes Scotland to publically reflect on the campaign itself, and the reasons for their success and failure.

The dataset consists of five focus group transcripts, three of voters and two of activists, with pseudonoymized participant questionnaire responses, metadata, handouts and transcripts organized by theme (Heading 1) and participant alias (Heading 2). We also include the Participant Information Sheet given to Voters, Participant Information Sheet given to Activists, Consent Form, Focus group pre-group close-ended questionnaire, Leader Evaluations Handout and Focus group question schedule.