The design of surveys conducted in the 2010 British Election Study is displayed in Figure A.1. The figure shows there are three distinct components: the in-person pre-campaign and post-election panel survey, the multiwave rolling campaign panel study (RCPS) and the monthly Continuous Monitoring Surveys (CMS). The first of these surveys repeated the classic in-person probability sample which has been the staple of the BES since the first study was conducted by Butler and Stokes in 1963. Although the BES originally included inter-election panel components, this design was replaced in the 1980s by a single post-election survey with no pre-campaign component. The latter design was changed in 2001 when the Essex team assumed responsibility for the study. For the first time the in-person survey consisted of a pre-campaign and a post-election panel survey.

In 2010, fieldwork for the in-person survey was performed by BMRB, under supervision of Study Director, Nick Howat. As Figure A.1 shows, the 2010 pre-campaign survey consisted of slightly less than 2000 respondents. These respondents were approached again immediately after the election, and the post-election sample was increased by a top-up survey giving a total of 3075 respondents. The top-up component was included to increase the representative quality of the survey given that a panel design was employed.