If you want to understand the 1993 election read Towards Consensus Click on the cover image for further information

Funding for the 1993 NZES was provided for by Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. Further assistance was provided by the Department of Political Studies, at the University of Auckland, and the Department of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Waikato.

The principal researchers (with current affiliations) are:

Jack Vowles, j.vowles@exeter.ac.uk University of Exeter Peter Aimer, p.aimer@auckland.ac.nz Helena Catt, h.catt@auckland.ac.nz Raymond Miller, rk.miller@auckland.ac.nz University of Auckland Jim Lamare, jlamare@fau.edu Florida Atlantic University

One of the primary objectives of the 1993 study was to focus on participation in the political process, particularly as differentiated by membership of a wide variety of social groups, gender, ethnicity, and so on. We also undertook to explore public attitudes about representation, and to inquire into what people expect from their politicians. To do so we incorporated a number of new variables into the study to measure voter's feelings of political effectiveness and beliefs about the responsibilities of members of Parliament. We also included a number of items to assess attitudes to voting and democracy, and opinion on aspects of electoral and constitutional reform. Here substantial issues are addressed, which arise in both democratic theory and the study of electoral behaviour, and which also are major public concerns in New Zealand politics today. There is clear evidence that voters expect more accountability from politicians and government, and greater correspondence between public opinion and policy outcomes. 

Elector Survey: The elector survey was a post-election survey administered through a self-completion questionnaire. The sample population included a panel component of 1573 electors who had participated in the 1990 NZES and another 1499 registered electors randomly selected from the 1993 main electoral roll, published two weeks before election day. The total sample size included 2,251 responses from New Zealanders qualified to vote (from about 70 per cent of those contacted). 

Candidate Survey: A 26 page questionnaire containing many of the same questions asked in the mass sample was posted to all parliamentary candidates of the Alliance, Labour, National and New Zealand First parties, and to the delegates who had attended the same parties' most recent national conferences.