Attitudinal research

Background

In pursuit of our mission (to change the terms of the public debate about fairness, to promote the benefits of a fair society, and to inspire citizens, organisations and decision-makers to create a fairer society in the UK), we need to better understand public attitudes around key fairness issues, and in particular to explore the underlying values and beliefs that drive those attitudes.

We have already done some attitudinal research of our own, on our definition of fairness as proposed in the Fair Necessities and on inequalities featured in the Fairness Index. And there is a huge existing evidence base on public attitudes to fairness and inequality (we have linked to some highlights, including advice on messaging and framing as well as insights into public attitudes).

However, there are also clear gaps in the attitudinal research evidence base. We are considering whether to try to fill some of those gaps in 2023, but before we do that, we want to make sure that we have identified the most promising gaps to fill - and that’s where we’d like your help. We would be very grateful if you could let us know where you think the most interesting attitudinal research opportunities are.

Scoping objectives and options

We are interested in uncovering unexpected insights around British people’s values, beliefs, perceptions, preferences or attitudes, and variations across segments, about the nature, importance, causes or consequences of various social problems that have a fairness dimension (in particular, various forms of inequality), and the desirability and efficacy of solutions. We want to identify and fill key gaps in the evidence base, to link our findings to the existing evidence base, and to share this analysis with researchers, policymakers and campaigners.

We would plan to commission a series of attitudinal research projects over the course of 2023, and to publish the results of each of them in the form of an online mini-report. Some might involve polling, others focus groups or other qualitative (possibly deliberative) techniques, others secondary research techniques.

One option that we are exploring is to have an overarching research objective running across each project. For example, understanding more about how people’s values, beliefs and perceptions might shape their support for bold new solutions (taxing robots or wealth, revolutionising food or transport, introducing universal childcare or citizens’ inheritances, etc) to the biggest problems that we face over the coming decades (the climate crisis, growing inequality, democratic decline, etc). We are also open to being more flexible, and filling the most interesting gaps in the evidence base without fitting them into an overall theme.

We are thinking about focusing on underlying beliefs and values, and how these shape attitudes to particular problems and solutions and reactions to specific messages and framings, so that our research complements strategic communications and framing work being done by others.

We would welcome your views both on overarching research themes (if any) and on specific research gaps and opportunities (including any thoughts on methodological approaches).

Please share your thoughts by filling in the form below. All fields are optional.

Underneath the form are some examples of potential research questions for inspiration.

Browse our list of questions

Feedback form

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Possible questions for inspiration

This is a non-exhaustive list of ideas for possible research questions to explore public attitudes, values and beliefs to fairness in the context of various issues, and are intended purely to stimulate thinking. Click on a button to filter by issue.

We are aware that there is plenty of existing research on some of these topics. These questions are rough ideas of subjects for enquiry, rather than actual questions that we might ask, so please ignore the fact that they may not be well constructed or worded.

Send us your thoughts

Access to public services

Should we be doing more to tackle discrimination and disadvantage in access to public services, relating e.g. to disability, race or gender?

Artificial intelligence

Should algorithms used to decide things that influence people’s lives in terms of jobs, housing, insurance, criminal justice, benefits and so on do more to take into account (and compensate for) the fact that people’s lives are hugely impacted by circumstances outside their control?

Barriers to opportunity

When looking to ensure that people born into disadvantage have sufficient opportunities to succeed, is it fairer to help them to overcome the barriers raised by their disadvantage or to remove those barriers in the first place?

Carbon inequality

Is it fair that the top 1% of earners emit 25 times more carbon than people in the bottom 10%?

Carbon rationing

Given that the top 1% of earners emit 25 times more carbon than people in the bottom 10%, and given the severity of the climate crisis, would it be fair to bring in carbon rationing?

Citizens’ inheritance or basic income

Would it be fair for the government to give every citizen an ‘inheritance’ (of say £1,500 at age 15), or to give everyone a basic income (equivalent, say, to the minimum income standard)?

Egalitarianism vs Rawlsianism

If we accept that unequal societies make a range of social problems worse for everyone, would it be better to focus on reducing inequality than on growing the economy?

Equal pay

What practical steps would you support to level up pay for women, people from working class backgrounds, people from certain ethnic groups and people with disabilities?

Future generations and the climate crisis

Are the rights of unborn generations as important as those of today’s generation of children and young people?

Genetic lottery

Should society look to ‘smooth out’ the variation in the genetic talents that people are born with, given that this is random luck, and given that some talents are much better rewarded than others?

Inequality and liberty

Do you understand freedom in a ‘negative’ sense (lack of interference) or a ‘positive’ sense (having the freedom to make the most of your potential)?

Inequality and loyalty

Can we really say with confidence that it’s ‘one for all and all for one’, that we’re all in it together, that we are bound by collective loyalty, when levels of inequality have become so high?

Inequality and meritocracy

Has inequality become so extreme (e.g. with recent evidence about the levels and consequences of wealth inequality) that we can no longer claim to live in a fair, meritocratic society?

Inequality and proportionality

Can we really say with confidence that people receive their due deserts (that proportionality and meritocracy) are working well, when levels of inequality have become so high?

Inequality, authority and traditions

Should we question the authority of the leaders, traditions, values and assumptions that have got us into a situation where levels of inequality have become so high?

Insecure work

Do you support the necessary reforms to make sure that gig economy workers have key employment rights and that no one is forced to work on a zero hours contract?

Inverse care law

Is it fair that people with more serious conditions (or living in poorer parts of the country) get lower standards of healthcare?

Key workers

Should we pay key workers (nurses, drivers, carers, supermarket workers etc) more because they are critical to keeping society going, or do all low-paid workers deserve better rewards?

Low-paid services jobs

As goods are becoming ever cheaper and services (jobs that can’t be made more efficient by technology) relatively more expensive, society has responded by paying people working in service sectors (care, retail etc) less and less. Is this fair?

Maximum pay ratios

Would it be fair to introduce maximum pay ratios, to ensure that everyone is paid a fair wage but also that top earners aren’t rewarded excessively?

Migration and asylum

Is there a moral case for treating asylum-seekers better and recognising the contribution they can make to our society and economy?

Nanny state

Which of the following issues does the government have a legitimate role in regulating or controlling, and which not? (carbon emissions, healthy food, car usage, flights, housing quality, health and safety, working conditions, etc)

Operation of the criminal justice system

Why should we tolerate transactional injustices in the criminal justice system, such as the use of indeterminate sentences, the treatment of prisoners on remand, the treatment of women, or the treatment of people with mental health conditions?

Opportunities for jobs and promotions

What practical steps would you support to level up opportunities for jobs and promotions for women, people from working class backgrounds, people from certain ethnic groups and people with disabilities?

Pensions vs support to young people/families

Is it fair that the government spends more money supporting pensioners than children and young families when poverty levels are much higher these days among the latter group?

Political participation and representation

If one reason that some communities are under-represented in politics (participation and represented) is that there are systemic barriers, should we not do more to tackle those barriers?

Poverty premium

Is it fair that people in poverty pay more for the same products and services as people with more money (utilities, insurance etc)?

Private education

Would it be fairer to leave private schools alone, or tax them more, or force them to open up to more people, or scrap them altogether?

Purpose and nature of council tax

Would a proportional property tax be fairer than the current council tax system?

Purpose of the criminal justice system

Is it fair that people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to go to prison, and that the justice system is more focused on punishment than on rehabilitation?

Racial discrimination in accessing services and jobs

Is it fair that people from some ethnic minorities face some combination of systemic, organisational and interpersonal racism when competing for jobs or trying to access public services?

Reducing inequality for conservative ends

Should we reduce inequality in order to ensure that everyone has genuine opportunities to be successful, to exercise individual agency, to take responsibility for their own lives, and to be treated in a strictly proportional way by others?

Regulation and net zero

Would it be fairer and more effective for the government to decide what products and services (including food) companies can sell to consumers, in order to reduce carbon emissions, rather than encouraging consumers to change their habits?

Right to housing

Does the state have a legitimate role in intervening more than it does at the moment to make the housing market fairer and ensure that everyone has a right to decent and genuinely affordable housing (e.g. by reforming property taxes or inheritance taxes or investing more in social housing)?

Role of luck (preference)

Should people’s life outcomes (or chances) owe more to factors within or outside their control?

Role of luck (reality)

Do people’s life outcomes (or chances) owe more to factors within or outside their control?

Role of luck (solutions)

What do you think about the following ways of reducing the influence of factors outside people’s control on their life chances? (taxing wealth, higher benefits levels, housing reform, higher pay etc)

Taxing wealth

Would it be fairer to tax income from wealth at the same rate as income from work?

Transformative adaptation

Will we have to make substantial changes to how we live in order to adapt to the consequences of the climate changes, and do you think these changes are fair?

Treatment according to need

In an unequal society, should we treat people based on need, rather than treating everyone equally?

Treatment of tax vs benefit fraud

Is it fair that the government spends more money prosecuting people for benefits fraud than on tax fraud, which costs the country much more money?

Wealth and lobbying

If there is a vicious circle whereby the rich and powerful have more influence over politics than others, and politicians make choices that entrench their advantages, shouldn’t we act to stop it?

Windfall taxes

Would it be fair to tax companies’ profits that are unexpected and unearned at a higher rate, to help pay for the problems caused for others by the same external issues that have boosted their profits?

Young people and the climate crisis

Does the love that you feel for your children, grandchildren or other young relatives extend to real concern about their future in the context of climate breakdown?