READ ME File For [Thesis Data] Charting Westminster's bubble: an ideological map of Britain's digital elite Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D35698 ReadMe Author: Conor Gaughan, University of Southampton, ORCiD: 0000-0002-0774-0111 Date that the file was created: June 2025 ------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- This dataset supports the thesis: Conor Gaughan (2025)Charting Westminster's Bubble: An Ideological Map of Britain's Digital Elite, PhD Thesis, University of Southampton Date of data collection: 10 2021 - 12 20254 Information about geographic location of data collection: United Kingdom Related funding: South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) -------------------------- SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION -------------------------- License: CC BY Recommended citation for the data: Conor Gaughan (2025) [Thesis Data] Charting Westminster's bubble: an ideological map of Britain's digital elite. University of Southampton doi:10.5258/SOTON/D3568 -------------------- DATA & FILE OVERVIEW -------------------- This dataset is available as zipped file (thesis_datasets.zip) which contains the following csv files: expert_ideology_estimates mp_political_attributes_22-08-22 mp_twitter_follower_networks_22-08-22 mp_twitter_follower_profile_metadata_22-08-22 mp_twitter_profile_metadata_22-08-22 mp_twitter_timelines_07-05-2014_21-04-2023 yougov_public_ideology_estimates The research combined the use of two primary digital trace data sets extracted from Twitter with two primary survey data sets commissioned exclusively for this research (Expert Survey and YouGov Survey), along with secondary survey data from the British Election Study Internet Panel, and a number of wider secondary data sources. The bulk of the analysis in the research depended heavily on the two digital data sets extracted from Twitter. Two data sets were extracted from the Twitter platform for this thesis at two separate time points. Both these data sets centre on the active Twitter profiles of both sitting (2019-2024) and former (2015-2017; 2017-2019) UK MPs in the House of Commons. Twitter research for this thesis was conducted through the Twitter Academic Research product track. This product track no longer exists as of mid-2023 but, at the time, qualified researchers access to all v2 endpoints, a maximum extraction cap of 10 million tweets per month, and complete access to the entire historical archive of Twitter data which extends back to the first ever tweet post in March 2006. A technical overview of what it offered can still be found here: https://devcommunity.x.com/t/introducing-the-new-academic-research-product-track/148632. Twitter Data Set 1 - MP Follower Network Data ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The complete follower network data of the sitting MPs only (n=591) as of the 22/08/2022. Data Set 1 was extracted from the Twitter platform via the developer API over a three-and-a-half-week period commencing 22/08/2022 and completing on 15/09/2022. Twitter Data Set 2 - MP Timeline Data ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The tweet timelines of both sitting and former MPs (n = 797) as of the 21/04/2023 stretching back to one year prior to the 2015 General Election (07/05/2014). Data Set 2 was extracted from the Twitter platform via the developer API on 21/04/2023. Expert Survey ++++++++++++++ A short survey was circulated to 133 experts in British politics and political science on the 08/11/2022. All responses were anonymous. The experts chosen to participate in the survey were all academics with substantive research expertise in electoral, legislative, or parliamentary politics and/or public opinion with a specific focus on the UK. The survey asked participants to place a sub-sample of 30 UK MPs, 12 UK political parties, and 13 UK media organisations on an 11-point scale between 0-10 based on where they believed each MP/party/organisation sat on the left/right ideological spectrum. Following the same format and questioning as the BESIP, 0 represented the furthest left and 10 represented the furthest right on the spectrum. An overview of the responses is available in csv file: expert_ideology_estimates YouGov Survey ++++++++++++++ Following the same general structure as the expert survey, a survey of the general British public was conducted in collaboration with British market research company YouGov. A representative sample of 2,068 members of the adult (18+) British population were surveyed on 21/02/2024, asking them to place 6 UK political parties, 24 UK media organisations, and 30 individual media personalities on a [0-10] scale, where 0 represents the furthest left and 10 represents the furthest right. An overview of the responses is available in csv file: yougov_public_ideology_estimates For detailed information on the data sources, survey questions and methodology, see chapter 3 of the thesis. --------------------------- DEFINITIONS & ABBREVIATIONS --------------------------- API – Application Programming Interface BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation BESIP – British Election Study Internet Panel CA – Correspodence Analysis DUP – Democratic Unionist Party DTD – Digital Trace Data EDM – Early Days Motion ERG – European Research Group EU – European Union HoC – House of Commons ITV – Independent Television (Channel 3) MCA –Multiple Correspondence Analysis MCMC – Markov ChainMonte Carlo MII – Most Important Issue MP –Member of Parliament MRP – Multilevel Regression with Poststratification PSB – Public Service Broadcaster SCG – Socialist Campaign Group SDLP – Social Democratic and Labour Party SMD – SingleMember District SNP – Scottish National Party UK – United Kingdom UN – United Nations US – United States of America UGC – User Generated Content