Main Purpose
The Norwegian National Election Studies (NNES) is an ongoing research project, the main purposes of which are to analyze elections, election results, voter behavior, and voter attitudes over time.
The 2017 and 2021 NNES will provide both continuity and innovation to Norwegian electoral research.
1st Project Aim
We aim, first, to build on previous research and to provide continuity with respect to institutional affiliation, research design, data-collection methods, and analyses of voter behavior. The project will continue to be led by the Institute for Social Research, in close collaboration with the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo, and with partners at both the University of Bergen and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (in Trondheim).
We will continue using a large-scale post-election survey as the main data source in the project.
The main publication will be a book in Norwegian that aims to combine high-quality research with accessible writing.
2nd Project Aim
An equally important aim of the 2017 and 2021 NNES is to renew the field of election studies in Norway and to enable innovation in research questions, methods, and designs. Starting with the 2017 election, we will introduce a campaign study as a regular part of the National Election Studies.
We also plan a renewal of the study of election turnout, using experimental methods and data from the electronic electoral roll that the Norwegian government is gradually implementing and making available to researchers.
In the upcoming 2017 election, we will conduct a study of rightwing populism and anti-immigrant mobilization.
Finally, it is important to note that politics in general, and particularly political elections, are unpredictable and prone to unexpected change. We need to be able to follow events as they happen, and to have resources available so that we can plan and execute new research efforts during the course of the project period.