This MEP Data website presents MEP survey data collected by the European Parliament Research Group. The most recent wave of this survey was conducted in 2015 by Richard Whitaker, Simon Hix and Galina Zapryanova. The 2015 wave and all previous waves of the survey are available on our data page.
The 2015 data were collected as part of a research project which assesses the range of views represented in the European Parliament, changes in mainstream Members of the European Parliaments’ (MEPs) views over time, MEPs’ attitudes to democracy in the EU and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. The 2015 survey, around which this research is based, adds to a time series of survey data collected by the European Parliament Research Group. The survey data have been requested by researchers from across the world. Details of requesting institutions and a bibliography of research citing the data can be found here.
The Research Team
This research has been undertaken by Professor Richard Whitaker (University of Leicester), Professor Simon Hix (European University Institute) and Dr Galina Zapryanova (Gallup). It has been funded by a Leverhulme Research Project Grant.
Professor Richard Whitaker (University of Leicester)
My main research interests concern two areas: the study of legislatures, and British centre-right parties and European integration. On the first of these, my work has focused on the European Parliament and its internal organisation, specifically committees, party groups and national parties. I have also worked on the relationship between parliament and government at Westminster, particularly in the Brexit process, and on parliamentary oversight of coalition governance.
Find out more about Professor Whitaker.
Professor Simon Hix (European University Institute)
Stein Rokkan Chair in Comparative Politics at the European University Institute, Florence. Fellow of the British Academy and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
My main areas of research and teaching are comparative democratic institutions, especially coming in parliaments and electoral system design, and politics, elections and decision-making in the European Union.
Find out more about Professor Hix.
Dr Galina Zapryanova (Gallup)
My main research interests are public opinion and survey methodology. Currently I am a consulting associate at Gallup where I am primarily involved in international projects. Prior to that, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (University of Mannheim) where I worked primarily on Euroscepticism, party-citizen congruence and developing a survey-based measure of the scope of European integration. I also worked as a post-doctoral researcher on the MEPs in 2014-19 European Parliament project from which the 2015 MEP Survey is derived.