Notes On Publication
exploring_britishness_summary_report.pdf. Research Study Conducted for The Royal Society of Arts, London Oct 2004 by the MORI Social Research Institute
Background and Methodology
The Royal Society of Arts commissioned the MORI Social Research Institute to
carry out an international programme of research aimed at gaining an
understanding of the perceptions of British values and characteristics in order to
help the RSA develop a set of criteria for an Award scheme celebrating
“Britishness”.
Focus groups were conducted in Milan, Italy; Mumbai, India; Chicago, USA; and
King’s Lynn, Britain in October 2004. Two groups were conducted in each
location, one consisting of respondents from higher social groups (roughly the
equivalent of the ABC1 classification in Britain), and the other from lower social
groups (roughly equivalent to the C2DE classification). Other than social class,
all groups were mixed gender and age. The groups were conducted in each
country in the native language of that country, and moderators were local to the
areas.
The location of the groups was chosen by the RSA and MORI as case study
areas, and therefore should not be seen to represent the views of people overall
from the individual countries.
In addition, MORI conducted six telephone depth interviews with
correspondents based in London and working for foreign media. These
correspondents work for international publications in the United States, South
Africa, India, Germany and Lebanon.
The topic guides used for the focus groups and depth interviews can be found in
the Appendix of this report.
Interpretation of the data
Qualitative research involves an interactive process between the people carrying
out the research and those being researched. It provides a way of probing the
underlying attitudes of participants, and obtaining an understanding of the issues
of importance. The real value of qualitative research is that it allows insights into
the attitudes, and the reasons for these attitudes, which could not be probed in as
much depth with a structured questionnaire. The flexible nature of this research
method allows respondents to define their own issues and raise their own
problems.
However, it must be remembered when interpreting these results that they are
not based on quantitative statistical evidence. The findings are based on a small
sample; the findings are illustrative and not statistically representative. In this
report we record perceptions, not facts - participants may hold views that are
based on incorrect information.
2
Throughout the report, use is made of verbatim comments from participants.
These have been selected to exemplify a particular view of a body of participants,
although it is important to remember that the views expressed do not always
represent the views of all the participants as a whole, nor of their countries as a
whole. A list of selected verbatim comments is appended to this report.
Acknowledgements
MORI would like to thank Paul Crake from the RSA for his help and advice
while developing this project. We would also like to thank the focus group
participants and the foreign correspondents who agreed to share their views to
assist this research.
Publication of data
Our standard Terms and Conditions apply to this, as to all studies we carry out.
Compliance with the MRS Code of Conduct and our clearing of any copy or data
for publication, websiting or press release which contains any data derived from
MORI research is necessary. This is to protect our client’s reputation and
integrity as much as our own. We recognise that it is in no one’s best interests to
have survey findings published which could be misinterpreted, or could appear to
be inaccurately, or misleadingly, presented.