The Qualitative Election Study of Britain (QESB) 2015 has released all twenty-three transcripts of pre- and post-election focus groups held during the 2015 UK general election campaign. This release (version 1.0) includes data from Birmingham, Cardiff, Clacton, Colchester, Dundee, and Glasgow focus groups and an in-depth interview with a Clacton UKIP supporter. The transcripts are available for download at http://qesb.info. The site has a video guide with information on the data and how to use it.

Among the data included are whether participants support a particular party, and if so, at what strength; impressions of the campaign; media consumption; party leader evaluations; opinions on the televised debates; which parties they would consider voting for and what considerations go into their choice; and their reported 2015 vote. The transcripts include demographic information and the theoretical topics are organised for easy and structured access to researchers.

The QESB 2015 comprises transcripts, audio and video of the focus groups and the exercise sheets filled in by the 94 participants from across Scotland, Wales and England. These additional data will be deposited with the UK Data Archive in early 2017.

The next data release will be transcripts of interviews with QESB panellists following the EU referendum. The QESB data from the 2005 and 2010 General Elections will also be released in NVivo compatible formats with metadata on the participants and focus groups.

If you have used QESB data in your own work, please get in touch at www.facebook.com/qualesb2015 or @qualesb. More information is also available at https://qesb.info and on YouTube (‘QESB’).