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PIR-20118 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Business, Law, Humanities & Social Sciences

For academic year: 2026/27 Last Updated: 16 September 2026

PIR-20118 - Elections, Voters and Public Opinion
Coordinator: Gemma Loomes Room: CBA1.038 Tel: +44 1782 7 34236
Lecture Time:
Level: Level 5
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for 2026/27

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2026/27

Elections and voting are key components of the democratic political process. Opinion polling and other research on public opinion forms the basis of our understanding of electoral trends, is used by governments and political parties to develop policy and strategy, and features in everyday commentary on politics in the media. Understanding elections, voters and public opinion is therefore central to understanding contemporary politics. On this module, you will develop your knowledge of psephological trends and explore the practicalities of designing, conducting and analysing quantitative political research.

Aims
To equip students with the core skills needed to evaluate aspects of and carry out basic quantitative political research. This includes developing
research questions to test theories and hypotheses, designing survey-based political research and working with quantitative political data,
including constructing and reading appropriate data tables and graphs, and interpreting descriptive statistics. This is achieved through engaging
students in basic psephology and focusing how quantitative research can be used to understand elections, voters and public opinion

Intended Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate knowledge of core concepts in psephology, including theories of voter behaviour and the science of opinion polling.: 3
Analyse the relative importance of theories of voting behaviour for explaining recent election results.: 3
Operationalize and develop indicators for political concepts.: 1,2
Produce and interpret tables and graphs using basic descriptive statistical techniques and appropriate software.: 1,2
Identify some of the challenges faced in gathering data on public opinion, and reflect on problems of sampling, prediction and accuracy.: 1,2
Design questionnaires and demonstrate awareness of good practice in questionnaire design and survey administration: 2
Produce and evaluate descriptive and explanatory research questions relating to the study of politics: 1,2

Study hours

12 hours of lectures
11 hours of seminars/workshops
1 hour of engagement with external practitioner
28 hours of preparation for seminars/workshops
98 hours of assessment preparation and completion (38 hours for assessment 1, 30 hours for assessment 2, 30 hours for assessment 3)

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Essay weighted 40%
Essay on voting behaviour
Students are required to write a 1,000-word essay, choosing one question from a list of questions. When answering the question, students must make sure they engage with polling data and political research to support their answer.

2: Research Proposal weighted 30%
Questionnaire design
Students will construct a 15-question survey on a political concept, along with a 500 word summary showing awareness of questionnaire design, sampling and survey administration

3: Report weighted 30%
Data analysis report
Students are required to write a 750-word report on voting behaviour in the most recent general election. Rather than an academic essay, the assessment is a professional report, such as one produced by a market research company. A brief, similar to what students would be given if they worked in market research, will be provided setting out the requirements.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 16 September 2026