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REFERENDUM STORIES: THE 2014 SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM

Dundee Focus Group – Voters 3conducted December 13th 2014

Date of release: 4 November 2016

Principal InvestigatorDr. Edzia Carvalho, University of Dundee

International Co-InvestigatorDr. Kristi Winters, GESIS, Cologne

Research AssistantMarcel Gehrke, GESIS, Cologne

Funded by Carnegie Corporation

School of Humanities, University of DundeeGESIS-Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, Cologne

QESB Contacts

qualesb@gmail.com kristi.winters@gesis.org e.carvalho@dundee.ac.uk

www.qesb.info

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‘QESB’qualesb2015 @qualesb

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READ ME

Thank you for your interest in the qualitative data collected by the Qualitative Election Study of Britain. This overview provides information on how the data are organized and hints on how to find the data you need.

What is included in these transcripts?

The transcripts include information on each participant, including their 2014 alias, sex, age group, how they voted in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, whether they decided on their vote less than 3 weeks before voting, whether they campaigned in the referendum, and how they have decided to vote in the 2015 UK General Election.

Topics included in each post-election focus group include: campaign impressions, media impressions, party leader evaluations, and what considerations go into their vote choice.

Creating a metadata structure for qualitative data

Pages and pages of transcripts are possibly intimidating as a source of information. Therefore we are constructing a metadata structure to speed along the identification of relevant data for your use. Each transcript contains basic demographic information about each participant to contextualize their responses. To follow a particular participant, click on their name in the Table of Contents and you will be taken to their comments.

Further, we have organized the transcripts by question theme. To collect data on a specific issue, for instance media consumption, go to the Table of Contents and click on the relevant subject to be taken to that spot in the transcripts.

Versions of the data

We will be bringing out multiple versions of the dataset, each time adding more context and information to the data. The 1.0 version includes the transcription work completed by the transcriber and anonymized by the investigators to meet the standards of anonymity and confidentiality we set for this project.

You’ll notice symbols in the transcripts that indicate where the data may be incomplete. We have used ** to indicate words, phrases or sentences which we could not hear. Italic font indicates we have taken a guess at a word/name etc. Words in parentheses {} indicate physical gestures or what can be heard on the tape but cannot be clearly articulated into specific words. Removal of direct and indirect identifiers are set off with + word +

Insofar as it is possible, we will be re-examining the video and audio to capture incomplete transcript areas in the future. In addition we will add more context to the data, such as

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noting when a participant laughs or speaks in a sarcastic tone. As this takes time, we will first release all the transcription data we have and then add improved versions later. If you are using the 1.0 version of data that includes any of the symbols, please check back for enhanced versions in 2016.

On copyright and attribution

Copyright of this transcript belongs to Dr. Edzia Carvalho and Dr. Kristi Winters. Individuals may re-use this document/publication free of charge in any format for research, private study or internal circulation within an organisation. You must re-use it accurately and not present it in a misleading context. You must acknowledge the author, the QES Britain project title, and the source document/publication.

Recommended citation:

E. Carvalho and K. Winters. 2017. 'Referendum Stories: The 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum Dataset', version 1.0. Funded by Carnegie Corporation, School of Humanities, University of Dundee and GESIS-Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, Cologne. Available at: http://qesb.info

For more information

For more information on this project please contact the investigator listed above. For information about qualitative data and methods for analysing it, we recommend this online slide show: Qualitative data analysis at http://www.slideshare.net/tilahunigatu/qualitative-data-analysis-11895136

Initial Transcription by: Just Write Secretarial Services, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Contact: m.mckillen@btopenworld.com

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Location: University of Dundee, Dundee

Moderator 1: Dr. Kristi Winters

Moderator 2: Dr. Edzia Carvalho

Participants:

Alias Sex StudentAge group

Special category Vote in Ref

Late decider Campaigner 2015 vote

Hilary F N 65-72 Y Yes voter No very active Y, know which party

Mabel F N 65-72 Y Yes voter No not much Y, know which party

Justin M Y 25-33 N Yes voter Yes NoY, don't know which party will support

Francis M N 42-49 N Yes voter Yes No Y, know which party

Beryl F Y 18-25 N Yes voter Yes NoY, don't know which party will support

Oliver M Y 57-64 Y Yes voter Yes NoY, don't know which party will support

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Table of contentsIntroduction...........................................................................................................................................6

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................6

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................6

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................6

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................6

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................6

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................6

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................6

Mabel................................................................................................................................................6

Beryl..................................................................................................................................................6

Oliver.................................................................................................................................................7

Oliver.................................................................................................................................................8

First awareness of politics.....................................................................................................................8

Francis...............................................................................................................................................9

Francis...............................................................................................................................................9

Justin.................................................................................................................................................9

Justin.................................................................................................................................................9

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................9

Hilary.................................................................................................................................................9

Mabel................................................................................................................................................9

Beryl................................................................................................................................................10

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................10

When first decided how to vote..........................................................................................................10

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................11

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................11

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................11

Beryl................................................................................................................................................11

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................12

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................12

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................12

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................12

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................12

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Mabel..............................................................................................................................................12

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................12

Justin...............................................................................................................................................13

Justin...............................................................................................................................................13

Francis.............................................................................................................................................13

Difference about referendum..............................................................................................................13

Justin...............................................................................................................................................13

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................14

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................14

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................14

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................14

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................14

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................14

Francis.............................................................................................................................................14

Beryl................................................................................................................................................15

Beryl................................................................................................................................................15

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................15

Media coverage of campaign and sources of information...................................................................15

Francis.............................................................................................................................................15

Francis.............................................................................................................................................16

Francis.............................................................................................................................................16

Justin...............................................................................................................................................16

Justin...............................................................................................................................................16

Justin...............................................................................................................................................16

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................16

Justin...............................................................................................................................................16

Francis.............................................................................................................................................16

Justin...............................................................................................................................................17

Justin...............................................................................................................................................17

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................17

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................17

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................17

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................17

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................18

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Beryl................................................................................................................................................18

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................18

Beryl................................................................................................................................................18

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................18

Francis and Beryl.............................................................................................................................18

Beryl................................................................................................................................................19

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................19

Beryl................................................................................................................................................19

Beryl................................................................................................................................................19

Francis.............................................................................................................................................19

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................19

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................19

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................19

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................19

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................19

Vote choice story.................................................................................................................................20

Francis.............................................................................................................................................20

Justin...............................................................................................................................................20

Justin...............................................................................................................................................20

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................20

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................20

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................21

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................21

Francis.............................................................................................................................................21

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................21

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................22

Beryl................................................................................................................................................22

Beryl................................................................................................................................................22

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................22

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................22

Justin...............................................................................................................................................22

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................23

Assessment of the campaigns.............................................................................................................23

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................23

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Hilary...............................................................................................................................................23

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................23

Francis.............................................................................................................................................23

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................23

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................23

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................23

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................23

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................24

Francis.............................................................................................................................................24

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................24

Justin...............................................................................................................................................24

Justin...............................................................................................................................................24

Justin...............................................................................................................................................25

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................25

Justin...............................................................................................................................................25

Hilary and Mabel.............................................................................................................................25

Beryl................................................................................................................................................25

Justin...............................................................................................................................................25

Francis.............................................................................................................................................25

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................26

Francis.............................................................................................................................................26

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................26

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................26

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................26

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................26

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................26

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................26

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................26

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................26

Positives and negatives from the referendum process........................................................................27

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................27

Justin...............................................................................................................................................27

Francis.............................................................................................................................................28

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................28

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Francis.............................................................................................................................................28

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................28

Francis.............................................................................................................................................28

Beryl................................................................................................................................................28

Justin...............................................................................................................................................28

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................28

Justin...............................................................................................................................................28

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................28

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................28

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................28

Justin...............................................................................................................................................28

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................29

Beryl................................................................................................................................................29

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................29

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................29

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................29

Beryl................................................................................................................................................29

Beryl................................................................................................................................................30

Party leader handout...........................................................................................................................30

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................30

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................30

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................30

Francis.............................................................................................................................................30

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................30

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................31

Francis.............................................................................................................................................31

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................31

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................31

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................31

Francis.............................................................................................................................................31

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................31

Beryl................................................................................................................................................31

Justin...............................................................................................................................................31

Justin...............................................................................................................................................31

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Francis.............................................................................................................................................32

Francis.............................................................................................................................................32

Francis.............................................................................................................................................32

Francis.............................................................................................................................................32

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................32

Beryl................................................................................................................................................33

Beryl................................................................................................................................................33

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................33

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................33

Justin...............................................................................................................................................33

Justin...............................................................................................................................................33

Justin...............................................................................................................................................33

Justin...............................................................................................................................................33

Beryl................................................................................................................................................33

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................33

Justin...............................................................................................................................................33

Justin...............................................................................................................................................34

Justin...............................................................................................................................................34

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................34

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................34

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................34

Francis.............................................................................................................................................34

Beryl................................................................................................................................................34

Beryl................................................................................................................................................34

Justin...............................................................................................................................................34

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................34

Justin...............................................................................................................................................34

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................34

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................35

Justin...............................................................................................................................................35

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35

Justin...............................................................................................................................................35

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Hilary...............................................................................................................................................35

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................35

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35

Justin...............................................................................................................................................35

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................35

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................35

Francis.............................................................................................................................................35

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35

Francis.............................................................................................................................................35

Beryl................................................................................................................................................35

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................35

Justin...............................................................................................................................................35

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................36

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................36

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................36

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................36

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................36

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................36

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................36

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................36

Justin...............................................................................................................................................36

Justin...............................................................................................................................................36

Justin...............................................................................................................................................36

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................36

Justin...............................................................................................................................................36

Beryl................................................................................................................................................36

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................36

Francis.............................................................................................................................................36

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................37

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................37

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................37

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................37

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................37

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Oliver...............................................................................................................................................37

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................37

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................37

Justin...............................................................................................................................................37

Beryl................................................................................................................................................37

Father Christmas’ gifts.........................................................................................................................37

Francis.............................................................................................................................................37

Francis.............................................................................................................................................37

Beryl................................................................................................................................................37

Oliver...............................................................................................................................................38

Hilary...............................................................................................................................................38

Mabel..............................................................................................................................................39

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Transcript

Introduction

[Moderator discussion ]

Hilary: Hi.

I: Hi I'm Kristi. Nice to meet you.

Hilary: Nice to meet you. I'm Hilary.

I2: Hi, I'm Edzia, nice to meet you, Hilary. Have a seat, it's anywhere in this semi-circle because Kristi and I will be sitting ***.

I: ***

Hilary: *** We've been having a stall, we've been collecting for the food banks, unfortunately, absolutely freezing, you know I think people are giving it to us out of pity... it's all right, we'll take it anyway.

I: Is it Hilaria or Hilary.

Hilary: Hilary.

I: I'm going to try to that I get that right.

Hilary: It's all right, I'll answer to anything. (Moderator 1 laughs)

Mabel: Hilary is quite exotic, isn't it?

MR: Hilary ***

Hilary: I lived in France and they call me Hilaria {Exclamations of ‘Wow’ and ‘Ooh la la’ and laughter}

Mabel: Did you get a good response at the food banks?

Hilary: Yeah, that's the fourth one that we've done. We did one that was a craft fair in the Community Cabin, we £180.00, and then at the switch on off the lights we got another £100, and we got another £100 last week, plus people are bringing food to us as well, so it's good. We're collecting to try to get selection boxes for the kids. We're doing all right.

Mabel: Hi I'm Mabel.

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Beryl: Hi, Beryl.

I2: Edzia, we've met before, {laughs} come have a seat. I don't know your name, even if we have met before. Is it Oliver or Francis?

Oliver: Oliver.

I2: It's just so we remember them when we're addressing you. There are two seats, one on either side of us.

Oliver: Okay.

I2: The paperwork that you have is the information sheet that I circulated. There's also the consent form, which if you could have a look at it and sign it as well, because that's very important for us, and the final sheet has some questions which we would be grateful if you could fill in. We may not have the time to go through all of that in the focus group. It's just some additional information that we would like.

Mabel: Do you want us to do here?

I2: Yes, please. Feel free to grab some food and drink.

I: There's apple juice, orange juice, water and then savoury and sweets, mostly savoury.

Oliver: Is it the 12th today?

Mabel: 13th.

I2: Hi you must be Justin. I'm Edzia.

I: Hi I'm Kristi, nice to meet you. {participants murmuring} I guess we'll make a start and we should keep to time as you guys have other things to do today. You've met both of us, before we start the focus group, just to do with everything, there's always bureaucracy. I want to cover orally what the consent form goes over, just to explain a few things and give you an opportunity to ask any questions. Most of it is about just informing you of what the nature of the research is and the fact that if you, your participation is voluntary, if at any point you need to leave, that's fine, you can get up and leave, but whatever you use during the group before you leave we consider that part of our data in that way. The information that you provide, we'll then make transcripts of it, and the transcripts, we'll remove your name, we'll give you a different name, an alias, we will remove any personal identifying information, so if you mention what street you grew up on, or where you went to school, we'll just say "a school in her community" so that anyone reading through it would not be able to identify you personally. It's that anonymised data that will be deposited with the UK Data Archive for other researchers. The videos, obviously you can't anonymise and that's why when we deposit them with the UK Data Archive, people who come in, who want to come in

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and watch them, they’ll have to sign a form saying, they'll still have the transcripts but if they want to see it they will have to sign a form to say "I will not reveal any of the personal identifiable information." I have stuff from the 2000 election at the UK Data Archive. They haven't contacted me to say that anyone has watched it, ‘cause everyone tends to use the transcripts so the opportunities for that are minimum. The last thing I want to explain is the assignment of copyright. Everything that you say in this room today, by signing this form you're going to give us the legal copyright over it so that we can cite it in publications, we can use it in conferences. I wish there was a lot of money in this but we're probably not going to be making tons of money in this research. One thing we have talked about, if we do use it, it would be to create instructional books for students in training them in social research methods, and then we would use the royalties from the book sales to fund our research so that we can try to have an independent stream of revenue rather than relying on the tax payer. So by assigning us the copyright you're helping us to move it in that direction. You can of course ask us questions at any time. So everyone okay? Any questions? Alright I'm going to throw out a first question that we're not going to answer until the end, because you might want to think about it, it's a little bit silly and a little bit fun and it might be a nice way to close it. This is the question and then we'll get on to the serious ones. If Father Christmas was asking you what he should deliver to David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, what would your recommendations for each of those gentlemen be? Because we're looking ahead to the 2010, 2015 elections, so at the end of the group we'll talk about the future so you might want to, as things come up "oh, that might be something useful."

Oliver: Do you mean things that they would like or things that you would wish on them?

First awareness of politics

I: I think probably the second {laughs}; that would be more interesting. So what you guys have in common today is that you all indicated that you made up your minds in the last three weeks of the campaign on independence, and that's really what we want to talk about today, is more your impressions of the campaign, your perceptions of the Yes and No campaigns, why you were torn, information you used to draw upon to make your decision, why you've decided one way or the other. So that's generally what will be the content of today's discussion. Maybe to start we can talk a little bit, get to know each other, because we'll be talking for the next 90 minutes. If you could think back to one moment, the first moment when you became aware of politics in your life. So as an example, because I know you're all casting your minds back, I was a teenager, about 13 or whenever it was, when 'Do they know it's Christmas' came out, and the whole idea of Live Aid, I guess it was Band-Aid, it became Live Aid later, I grew up knowing about elections, and I remember as a child Carter was debating Regan, because I grew up in America, and I waved my butt at Ronald Regan, because I didn't like him, {participant laughs} and my mum sent me to bed. I was aware of politics, it was just a thing, but

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when it came to Band-Aid, that meant that people could come together to do something to make a difference, and that was when I realised "hey maybe I could do something too". Shall we start with Francis?

Francis: You mean the first time I was aware of politics or the first time that I was aware that politics was a thing that affected me?

I: Well, what's more important, well yeah, when it affected you? Maybe both.

Francis: Probably the poll tax, Margaret Thatcher, what year would that have been, mid-'80s? You know it was a big thing in Scotland, particularly, against the poll tax, because obviously it was implemented here first, as a test bed here, if you like, and only when it was implemented in England was it seen as a bad thing, but everybody in Scotland already knew it was a bad thing beforehand. {Moderator laughs} I guess that would have been my first real thing of politics.

I: Thanks. Justin.

Justin: My first memories of a political figure is the end of Margaret Thatcher in the early '90s. I was born just in the late '80s. The first time I was aware of sort of real change in things was I suppose the new Labour movement and when Tony Blair came to power, because I know there was a lot of excitement around after this long spell of Conservatism. I think that was the first time that it really, I don't know, spoke to me, {laughs} to be honest.

I: You got caught up and were more aware of it?

Justin: I'm not sure about being caught up, but being more aware of it, yeah.

I: Hilary.

Hilary: I'm showing my age here, way back to the Bay of Pigs 13:58

I: Wow, I would not have said that about you *** {laughs}

Hilary: Because then suddenly there was this danger of nuclear, you know you can't put the genie back in the bottle type of thing, and it was then that I became involved with CND and have always been aware of that kind of thing. I lived abroad for a while and when I came back I first saw someone wearing, you know, the ribbon, the symbol of the SNP, and I asked what that was and I was told that they were against nuclear disarmament. And I said, well they're the party for me then. So that's my story.

Mabel: I'm going to have to say snap {laughs} because I was in first year at school and we were at a classical music concert at the Caird Hall, we used to take first year children to these kind of things, I don't know if they still do, and we all sat there and we waited for the bomb to drop on us, because it was the stand-off, {Hilary says ‘Yes’} and it was

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the first time that we actually all felt that this was real. Up till then, we were 12 or 13, it had all gone over our heads. I remember the fear we had because we were told if whoever it was didn't back down then the Americans were going to launch their attack. We were actually convinced that we weren't going to come out of that concert alive. That was my first as well; it was so profound. I probably went back to thinking about the Beatles immediately afterwards, {laughter} but that was the first time I think that politics impacted on our lives.

Beryl: I have very vague memories of Tony Blair and trying to understand what was going on in Iraq, {laughs} but the first time I realised how much of an effect politics would have on me, I'd have been again first year, probably 13 years old, and listening to the news quiz on Radio 4 and just sort of realising how much this affects people, I suppose.

I: Oliver?

Oliver: I'm also a kid of the missile crisis, and sort of remember Harold Wilson and Ted Heath being on TV programmes and things, news and what have you, and I suppose I was getting more interested in politics as I came in my teens. I remember in terms of the SNP, there seemed to be an SNP surge at that time, lots of people going around wearing SNP badges. I can't remember what caused it but I remember wearing an SNP badge for a short period of time.

I: Thank you all very much. It's interesting, there are cohorts, so there are people who remember the Cuban missile crisis time and then there's a Thatcher cohort, and then there's a Blair Iraq war cohort. {laughter} It's really fascinating to hear how common, the idea that people have a political start in life but when you hear people's stories, you go "wow, they have these events," you might see them in the newspaper but they're having a knock on effects on people, young kids and how they think about things. Thank you very much for that.

When first decided how to vote

I: We’re now, the way that we've organised the questions is we're going to go back in time and think about before, the early part of the campaign and then the later, the really nearer to the actual election campaign, then the day of the election itself and if you went to the polls and if you're willing to share your story about what that was like, and then your reactions, how it all went, how it all played out, and then how you are kind of thinking where things are now. That's the general arc. And then at the end we'll look a little ahead to the 2015 elections. If we can think back to the distant campaign, it would be easier if each of you can say... The issue was out there for a while but you guys didn't make up your minds for a while, was that because you had lives {laughter} and other

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things going on and when it became closer it became more relevant and you wanted to make a decision, or were you on the fence and going back and forth? So maybe if people could talk a little about why they decided late it would help us to craft the questions. Since we started with Francis, I'll start with Oliver this time.

Oliver: I don't know where to start, really. I mean, well I mentioned briefly that we had a brief spell of wearing the SNP badge when I was 15 or 16 or something, but then afterwards I was sort of quite opposed to SNP and nationalism and all the rest of it. I spent quite a bit of my time, I'm from Dundee but I spent quite a bit of my time living in England as well and was pretty much steeped in British history and all the rest of it, so mostly consider myself to be British, really, rather than Scottish. And {pause} so yes, I wouldn't really call myself a nationalist certainly not in recent years, really. Sorry, so.

I: Were you deciding late because you didn't make a decision until it was really close, when you were having to make a decision, the time was approaching, or was it that you were on the fence, going back and forth, and that's why you decided a bit later?

Oliver: Well, I mean I thought this is actually really a significant decision, I have to take it seriously. Okay I need to think about this and go to lots of meetings and actually think about it, discuss it with other people, and it was really during the process of the campaign, and going to these meetings and listening to what people had to say that myself and one friend, in particular, who would be more of a British nationalist than myself even, he was even beginning to sort of change over time as well. So it was a gradual process, really. It sort of speeded up towards the end, of course...

I: Yes, as it becomes more and more salient.

Oliver: You think, my God, I have actually got to make a decision here, {grins and Moderator laughs} because it's all very well going to meetings and intellectually tossing things around but when you actually have to do it. At the time I was going to vote, one way or the other. My friend that I was talking about, he never actually registered to vote because he didn't vote. {Moderator exclaims surprise ‘Oh’} We kept nagging him about it. He has a degree in history and politics as well so he really should {laughs} it's not as though he doesn't know anything about it! But I thought no, you can't not vote in something as important as this.

I: Beryl?

Beryl: I was definitely on the fence almost, you know, going into the polling booth, I think I stood there for two minutes and then decided. It was sort of this, you know idealistically, I liked the idea of an independent Scotland, not for any nationalist reasons but more I'd say I'm somewhat left of centre and I thought that probably Scotland would probably become more left than Britain as a whole, I felt. Then I don’t know but at the same time I thought "can we pull this off?" and just constantly and you know at school, surprisingly, a lot of people, you'd expect young people to be voting Yes and a lot of

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them were actually very pessimistic and saying "oh, it will never work; we have to vote no." So there was almost that degree of peer pressure as well. But I went Yes in the end. But what finally decided it for me was in the local elections I voted for the Green Party and I just sort of decided, well they supported independence and I'd like to see them get a bit more power, so.

I: You said it was a last minute very last minute for you {laughs}. How about you, Mabel?

Mabel: I don't know whether I misinformed you on the form but I was never an undecided voter. {Moderator 2 says ‘Oh right’ in surprise. Moderator 1 says ‘Okay’} Sorry. {Moderator 1 says ‘That’s alright’}. I have known most of my life that I was going to vote Yes. {Moderator 1 exclaims ‘Ahh’ to indicate learning something new} It's sort of in my DNA from my family.

I: You should have been in the last group.

Mabel: Sorry. {Moderator 1 says ‘But that’s okay’}. So, I didn't have any epiphany or anything or any doubts at all. I did go to meetings because I did think, like you, that it was very important, and I thought I can't just, you know, vote Yes without, so I did go to a lot of meetings, I went to a lot of talks, I read extensively, so nobody could accuse me "oh, you were blinded." I did do my research; I had no doubts at all. I was at the polling station at 7 o’clock in the morning. {participants chuckle}

I: That's good. Okay.

Hilary: Well, I'm the same as you inasmuch as I had decided that from way back, in 1979 I voted Yes then. Of course the goal posts were moved inasmuch as they were taking into consideration that people who were dead, they automatically were counted as No voters. {Moderator 1 chuckles}

Mabel: That was dreadful, wasn't it?

Hilary: I know!

Mabel: If you didn't vote you were a No voter.

Hilary: That's it! That was in 1979. {Moderator 1 says ‘Wow’} So, I mean, I always had the same as you, that I was going to vote Yes. And then I said to myself "well, why am I voting yes?" So I read extensively to justify, you know, why I was voting yes, that it wasn't just a gut reaction, and I took part in various Yes stalls down on Monifieth, and the Yes bus where we went to different places, and when we were confronted with No voters, when we asked, well, I particularly asked "why are you voting no?" "Well, I just am." Now, if someone asked me why I was voting Yes I could give you a list as long as my arm, because I had read about it and I just found that the No voters were maybe not informed.

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I: Thanks. Sorry for the mix up. We’ll also be asking you about what media you consumed, ***. Yeah. Justin, how about you?

Justin: Well, in 2010 when the SNP won that election, at the end of that year I actually moved abroad and I was away for most of the time, and I came back this summer, and the reason that I was undecided was that I kinda felt maybe I'm looking to vote too much with my heart. I was hoping to be persuaded the other way, I was hoping the other way would have had a stronger argument, but as it went on, no, it didn't. I went with my heart rather than my head. {chuckles} I would say probably I was more solidified closer to a month beforehand, before you know, people started slinging mud about and things.

I: Yes, the last month was quite intense.

Justin: It was horrible, I came off Facebook and everything just to try and...

I: Okay, we'll talk about social media in just a second. Francis?

Francis: I've never really been interested in politics before, I've always viewed a Scottish vote was a wasted vote, basically, because we always get the government that England votes for. I think I have voted maybe twice in my life, if that. For about six weeks before the referendum was due I thought, "this referendum thing is coming up, I'd better have a look into this and decide what's going on, see what's going on." So I did a lot of research on the internet and pretty quickly made up my mind which way I was going to vote. It was blatantly obvious to me which way I should vote. That was probably was four or five weeks out from referendum day, and since then I've been like quite interested in politics. {Moderators laugh}

Difference about referendum

I: *** knock on. This isn't a question we asked in the last group, but it seems kind of a... you guys have seen a lot of campaigns, what was different about the referendum? Because it didn't have parties in it so was there a feeling that this was a vote that wasn’t, very much was not a typical go to the polls for you? If you could maybe talk a little about the difference between voting in the general election or a local election and the referendum. Because you know this is an interesting point, that people who don't normally participate might be more interested in a referendum. So you kind of talked a little bit about not being interested in politics, maybe I can go back to Justin, did it feel different even voting for this or did it feel like another election?

Justin: Yeah, because this one was in-out. The other ones you had an array, you could take a bit of this or have a look at that, and it wasn't, I suppose, as final, a general election I suppose because after a few years we could *** do that. And also I think with

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this one it seemed to be the SNP, the Greens, and then everyone else, and I found that quite unsettling, the way it did just started to feel a bit like almost bullying in the end. I think that's why I probably voted with my heart, {chuckling from participants} and that's probably not a healthy way to tackle it either, to feel that you're just doing that to somebody rather than think about hundreds of years in the future.

I: Yeah. How about you, Hilary?

Hilary: It was the dirty tricks nearer the end...

I: But the actual like the feeling of voting in a referendum versus a partisan general election or a local for the house of parliament?

Hilary: oh yes, it was different inasmuch as you used to get the different candidate standing outside with their rosettes and the 'raving looney' and etc. etc., whereas it was just Yes or No.

I: And it was just people.

Hilary: And it was just people, yeah. We didn't have any, it was just grass roots, people that were really that were standing at the polling stations, I being one of them, and that was it. There wasn't any "ah but we'll do this for you and we'll do that for you," no, it was more straightforward.

I: Yeah. Mabel?

Mabel: I felt it was carried by people, definitely, it was taken over by people. When it started off, people were "this referendum" and then people did engage hugely, and the one thing that I did notice, I've got a lot of great nieces and nephews and they were all hugely engaged. They knew so much. Even my ten year old niece, great niece took politics on board, and it was amazing, she would say "did you know about this? Did you know about this?" So from that point of view, it wouldn't happen in elections. People who couldn't vote were getting interested and caught into it, and I found that. Again it was much more divisive than an election, because people can have their party differences and you just go "okay then," but this I did find a lot more divisive and, as you say, towards the end the bullying and the, we'll not talk about mainstream media, my blood pressure might go through the roof! {chuckling heard}

Hilary: It's still going on.

Mabel: Yes, it's still going on. Yes, so there was a lot of revelations for me. The media was one, just how twisted they are. {chuckles} And just the engagement of people that couldn't vote, like young people.

Francis: I really had my eyes opened to the mainstream media and the political parties {Mable says ‘Yes’} and how they go about things.

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I: So should we... I'm going to continue, I want you too the question, but can I divert a little bit and say do you want to talk about that, some examples? No. Let's just finish this first, let's get through Beryl. I have a feeling that once we open that can of worms there's going to be a nice round discussion. So yeah, Beryl?

Beryl: It just felt so much bigger. As Justin was saying, it was final, it was changing history, and then it was everywhere. Social media, young people, it was all anyone was talking about. Coming to university and sort of, your first conversations with people, after your introductions and your small talk it was "so how are you voting?" And it was just sort of "am I ever going to speak to you again?" {laughter} was sometimes what it felt like they were asking.

I: It was very different from a regular election, in that way.

Beryl: Yeah.

Oliver: It was a very clear choice, yes or no, whereas voting in a normal election, well, you're never very sure necessarily what you're actually voting for or you may not even like any of the parties that have a chance of winning. So you think I'd rather vote Green than vote Tory or Labour or SNP or whatever, but I don't want them to get in so I'll vote for one lot to stop the other lot getting in, all that sort of stuff, whereas this is definitely purely about choice, as it was in the last devolution referendum. I wasn't here in '79 so I couldn't vote in that one, but the one for the Scottish Parliament. So yeah, it was definitely different in that sense and I think people... I think in terms of elections it could be, it could be similar in the sense that if there's a lot of elections there doesn't seem to be a clear cut choice, perhaps, even between the main parties, whereas if there is a clear cut choice then I think that people will go out and vote. So we can say that in the '45 election, or something like that, I voted in Labour and threw out Churchill, there was definite clear choice there. In other elections there doesn't seem that choice; there may be but it's not articulated, perhaps.

Media coverage of campaign and sources of information

I: All very, very good points, I really appreciate them, thank you. So where we are now? We were going to talk about the media. So let's have a discussion about what kinds of information you used. So maybe Facebook, Twitter, websites that you found helpful, and then once we've discussed that we can discuss like, how the media worked in the last, especially probably the month of the campaigning? Who wants to start? I don’t always want to call out ***. Does anyone want to start?

Francis: **** I have been using the internet for years; I use the internet for everything. I don't watch a lot of live TV. Since the referendum I actually cancelled my TV licence because I can't remember the last time that I had my TV on. {Moderator laughs} But it

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was also a protest as well against the BBC and their bias in the referendum. Sites? Wings over Scotland, Bella Caledonia, Business for Scotland, these types of sites.

I: Did you use social media, like Twitter? Did you follow...?

Francis: I'm not really a Twitter fan {Moderator says ‘That’s fine’} but I used Facebook a lot as well.

I: Did you use it to just get the information or did you share information too?

Francis: Initially, just to get information but once I had that information then, and I had made up my mind then I was sharing it on Facebook, yeah. Okay, Justin. Is that okay? We can just go around then.

Justin: I *** social media because I, I deleted mine for the six weeks ahead, because even at that point it was starting to get a bit, you couldn't move, you couldn't say anything, you couldn't do anything about it. {sighs} Plus, I had a cousin who was actually working for the No campaign and my dad was very vocal on the other, the extreme opposite so I thought it was easier to stop. To get information, I downloaded Scotland's Future book and looked at that. There wasn't an equivalent from the other side, if there was I would have read it as well, but all there was from the other side and from the media was, you know, "play with fire, you're going to. This will happen to you. Da-da-da-da-da." And I think this also informed my decision. Whenever I read a newspaper, usually something online, I tend not to really follow specific newspapers, I'd go more for the articles, the grabbing headlines, because of course you would get the Daily Mail, {laughter} which would give a much more eye-catching headline than something like the Guardian on the same subject. Sorry, where was I going with that?

I: Where are you getting your information?

Justin: Yeah, I would say something else {laughs}. Sorry, I went off on a tangent there. Sorry.

I: No that’s alright. You turned off social media the last six weeks, you found independent information and you did newspapers online. Did you look at the comments ever?

Justin: well there were just, yeah, and then I stopped as well because there just started to be fights and things, and you know the 'gnats' as the people call them...

Mabel: "Cyber gnats."

Justin: All this kind of thing,

Francis: The ‘Gnat-zis’ {chuckling heard}

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Justin: yeah, but I was trying in myself to be diplomatic about it also, and it was very difficult to do. ‘Cause even now, people are still "you get nothing, you lost" and it's very difficult to shrug off. The day right before the actual referendum I went back on social media and realised why I had come off in the first place. I think, all things aside, I tried to be very diplomatic about it and I think that I made the right decision in the end. {Hilary and Mabel chuckle}

I: Probably lost some friends because of it.

Justin: The other thing is actually the circles that I move in are mostly No voters and they were very vocal about that, and I was being, even now people talk about the Yes vote and bullies, and for me it was the other way round for me, which was very interesting. It just depended on who you were...

I: Where you stand often depends on where you sit, {Justin says ‘exactly’} or where you sit often depends on where you were standing? One of the two anyway. Hilary?

Hilary: I find the BBC that you had always trusted, {Mabel hums agreement} you always trusted, "oh it must be true, BBC said it!" You know it was like your mum had said this, so you believe what your mum tells you. I had informed myself in various ways, through Wings over Scotland, Bella Caledonia, and The Wee Blue Book, and you know just even going back into history, how Scotland became part of Britain in the first place, and it was bully boy tactics then even.

I: Leveraged buyout.

Hilary: Yeah. It's this empire, you know the British Empire. Well again, that's bully boy tactics. And the BBC were actually telling us that we were wrong to want to be our own country, and they're still coming out with this. You know like when Alex Salmond announced that he was going to be standing for Westminster, and the papers, this was on Saturday night, "I wish this man would die," this was the things that they were saying, "why doesn't this man die? He is such a hateful person.” If any of the Yes campaign had made any kind of remark like that against any of the other parties, oh my God, it would have been "hang ‘em at dawn!" And I just find that the media, we're being force fed lies and you know I don't want anything else to do with them. I'm not paying my TV licence, just as a civil disobedience.

Mabel: Good for you.

I: *** Thank you. Mabel?

Mabel: I think one of the things that has come out of the referendum, probably which either side you're on, is that the media are a business and they're there to make money, they're there and they’re controlled by whoever owns them and unfortunately most of the mainstream media are owned by people who have got unionist sympathies and

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interests. I mean Paul Dacre, editor of the Mail, I can hardly say the name, he's got huge estates up in Ullapool and one of his, he was terrified that there was going to be a Yes vote because then the Land Reform vote would go through, luckily it's going through anyway. But there's all this vested interest, all these people have vested interest, and like Hilary, I was brought up with the BBC. You know, "they're the BBC!" They're not, they're appalling! I was on the march, there was a rally in 2013 at Carlton Hill and Police Scotland tweeted that night, I think they said 22,000 to 25,000 people, and Jackie Bird on the news said 8,000 people turned up in Edinburgh. I remember thinking, "I was there! I was there!" {Hilary says ‘Exactly’} And my sister, who is totally and utterly non-political, she was there, and she has now become, you know, a firebrand and before this she wasn't interested, but now she said "we were there, there was..." Yes that was the first time, to me, that I actually realised, and that was 2013 and it just got worse and worse and worse. So I got all my information from Wings of Scotland, News net, Bella Caledonia, all these things, and Twitter.

I: Did you just take the information in or did you also forward it onto friends or?

Mabel: I forwarded it on to friends. But I always, my son is very much "oh, you don't know that it's true, just because you saw it..." He's always saying to me don't just take something on face value, so everything I was reading I'd say "let's see, figures and things..." They're easy to find out. Yes, stuff that was correct I was forwarding it and saying to people, "you know, have nothing to do with the mainstream media; it's just lies and manipulation."

I: Thank you, yeah. Beryl, how about you and social media, the internet, information and sharing, or not?

Beryl: I think I did get most of my things from sort of Facebook or occasionally looking over articles from various newspapers rather, the Daily Mail, that was interesting to read at times! [laughter]

Mabel: Hamish McDonald

Beryl: I remember also receiving all the pamphlets from either side and so on and you know a lot of the... I'd say the Yes campaign probably had a much better use of social media and things and the No campaign all seemed sort of very last minute, putting out a couple of adverts, which would then end up going viral on YouTube, probably not even because of [laughter] ...certainly not for the reasons they had hoped.

Hilary: "I'll tell Paul to make the tea."

Francis and Beryl: "Eat your cereal!" {laugh}

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Beryl: I remember somebody brought into school sort of, the Yes manifesto, the white book, and I attempted it and then I just ended up asking "can you just tell me the shorter version?” {laughter}

Mabel: It was a big book

Beryl: It was.

I: Did you mostly just consume it or did you ever pass it on?

Beryl: Mainly, I was wary of passing things on just because I really do not want to get involved in any of these arguments that are breaking out everywhere. {Justin says ‘Yeah’}

I: It seems that there's been an organic need, awareness of a need for diplomacy and people really honed your diplomacy skills as you navigated. {laughter}

Francis: I love a good argument. {laughter}

I: How about you, Oliver, in terms of media and how you got your information? Did it change over time?

Oliver: I don't have television, I haven't had television for many years, but I do listen to the radio so that would be a source, particularly Radio Scotland in this context, which I thought, I thought was pretty okay.

Hilary: I don't why, I don't listen to the radio.

Oliver: Okay, so I was aware of people commenting on all the stuff that TV was saying...

Mabel: I think Radio Scotland had the odd moment of, when they were being fair, to be fair to them. {Oliver says ‘okay’} It was the very odd one, but there was some when they weren't completely biased.

Oliver: Compared to say Radio 4, for example, I'd say as well, especially some of the debates on that are very slanted. So that, yes I went to many of the Five Million Questions talks and debates here, so that was different, with all sorts of politicians and other people. Social media, I certainly was on Facebook yes, I was reading quite a lot and to some extent engaging but mostly just sort of watching people’s arguments in so many ways. {chuckles} I'm not too sure that I wanted to get involved in this either, like some other people. But it was a very good source when following things up, because people were you know putting links to all sorts of things and you could follow those up, and also you'd get a better view of the other side as well and see if they had anything to say on that, whatever. Normally they did. Their adverts, like of women in their kitchens were a little bit classic. {laughter} But yes, that was it really.

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I: By a show of hands, how many people attended a meeting in person, kind of a meeting or a discussion or debate about the referendum, attended a meeting where it was being discussed? {Hilary, Mabel, Beryl and Oliver are raising their hands} About half. It's just that integration of some people wanted to attend a more personal thing where they can ask questions and other people like the anonymity of the internet where they can decide, collect the information for themselves.

Vote choice story

I: How are we for time? *** Let's think a little bit about the day of the election, if you can cast your minds back to the day of the election and if you could tell me a story about, if you don't mind, if you voted, what was your experience at the polls, did you get through pretty quick? Was there a line? Did you volunteer or did you do anything else? What about after you had voted, did you stay up that night or did you go to sleep assuming that it would be a long time to the result? And the actual result itself. Ready to go for it? {chuckles}

Francis: I'm quite a no-nonsense person. If I go shopping I'm in, get what I need and then out again. It was the same with voting. {laughter} Get in, tick the box, post it, out. I mean, I work backshift and I'm normally up quite late anyway, but I was determined that I was going to stay up until I had at least some sort of idea of how it was going to go. I ended staying up till I think it was about 5-ish, and thought "yeah, time to go to bed," {laughter} and I was a bit depressed for a couple of days afterwards. But yeah.

Justin: Yeah, no, I went to the polls, it was the first thing I did, it was about 7 o'clock in the morning as well, had my day, then in the evening I turned the television on, I had some Polish vodka from when I was away, {laughter} and after the first few I thought "nah, I'll wait till the morning for this. This is going to take forever and it doesn't look good anyway." So I put myself to bed. There was no fireworks, there was no, there was nothing, it was quite clean.

I: And then, the next morning you just saw the news and there was a...

Justin: Yeah, I rolled over in bed, picked up my phone and had a look, very early the next morning as well, and it was "aww..." {laughter}

Hilary: I was a polling officer, I was at the polling station most of the day, in sort of two hour stints, went in and voted. We had arranged that we would have a party the next day, which was cancelled. But the thing that astonished me, and I really shouldn't have been astonished, was when you turned on the TV, that the polling stations closed at 10pm but by 20 past 10 pm the media were reporting that the Nos had won.

Mabel: How would they know? ***

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Hilary: Exactly. And so many other bits and pieces you know that came out. I stayed up and watched it. We had our commisery, commiseration drinks and when we found that they were burning the Saltire on George Square I just burst into tears, because you know we in the Yes campaign we had run a very clean campaign and for that to happen was just awful.

I: Thank you. Mabel?

Mabel: I was up at 7 o'clock, my daughter and I, and I went down to vote. We were the second and third people there. I was actually shaking, because it had been the culmination of years for me. I was shaking, I was so sure it was going to be a Yes vote, I really was. I went about my day quite happy, and then I don't know why but I got this sense of foreboding about 8 o'clock at night. I just honestly, I just can't explain it, I'm not psychic or anything, {laughs} I don't believe in all of that. But I just got this awful sense. I was staying with my son and his wife, and she was out, she was doing the count, I was staying with them and they were huge "Yesers" as well, and about 11 o'clock I said to my son, "this isn't looking good," and when the first two results came in I said "I can't take this." It was actually like a terrible bereavement. Even then I knew, I just knew. And in the morning, honestly, it was awful, it was just awful. Even the kids were affected, and I was so upset for them, and I felt aww. Anyway, it was very, very depressing for a couple of days, and like you, the scenes in George Square just finished me. I thought, "no, look at those." And I mean to be fair, these people were not representative of the majority of the No voters, but they were awful people. {Hilary says ‘on the day’} To do that just showed their lack of class. Yeah, it was a horrible, horrible, time.

Francis: Did anybody think there was like a really strange atmosphere the day after?

Mabel: Oh yes. There was no triumphalism either, there was no sense of "look what we've done," because I do think you know that a lot of people that voted No, not all of them, you can't generalise, a lot of the people voted No, it was no great big deal for them, it was just "ah well, that's that then." But the people who voted Yes, in the main, were the people who really, really wanted it, {Justin says ‘Yeah’} who really wanted to see a different Scotland, and it was crushed, {Hilary says ‘Yeah’} it was an aspiration and a dream crushed and it was very hard to... The shop that I go into, I know that they were No voters, I couldn't go in for about a fortnight, not because of them but I just didn't, I just didn’t want any reminders. {Hilary says ‘Yeah’} It was difficult, very difficult to pick ourselves up. I think I lasted in the doldrums for about 48 hours actually, really in the doldrums, and then I just thought, you know what like a lot of people ***, "wait a minute, this isn't over" and there was that feeling of "hmmm, don’t let's say that's it gone." So I think that's what I've held onto ever since.

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I: We'll talk about the future too, in a little bit. {Mabel says ‘Sorry’} No, no, no, no, it was in that moment, looking towards the future that helped you. {Mabel says ‘Yes’}. Like wait a minute ***

Mabel: Ah huh. In the moment of despair, I think what I was trying to say was instead of looking backwards, we sort of said "no, let's, let’s move forward."

Beryl: I remember I went home to Perth to vote, and sort of going very late at night actually, and it was quite quiet. I didn't, I didn’t stay up for the counting, I just waited until the morning. I was quite, I was disappointed, though I wasn't surprised. But what really got to me, in my area at least, I think they said that about 20% of people didn't vote either way, and I thought never mind if you're voting Yes or you're voting No, I know that some people said that No voters were quite apathetic, but it's the idea of people who, if you could have voted and you didn't, that just... and then hearing about the riots and marches, that really annoyed me, that was awful. But the result itself, it was just sort of disappointing but I wasn't surprised.

I: There's been some polls pointing in that direction, {Beryl says ‘Yeah’} then the one that was reversed but the polling was ***

Beryl: Perth was a quite a No city, I think. It seemed like they were the majority.

I: Oliver?

Oliver: Well I was up quite early as well, I was there about 7, I wasn't the first to vote, there was a few people coming out as I arrived and a few people came in after me. I didn't have to queue or anything, it was steady, it seemed. I didn't feel, I felt, I didn’t feel as "whoo!" as I should have done somehow, {chuckles} it was just "okay, well that's that," sort of thing, it seemed more matter of fact. I had actually seen a ballot paper beforehand, nothing illegal, a friend of mine had a postal vote and it was very complicated and he couldn't work out how to do it, even though he is a senior lecturer at Edinburgh University, {laughter} he is a bit sort of absent minded professor type, "what do you do here? "This is what you do. " So that other friend I mentioned didn't even register, I ended staying up all night with him watching it on the telly. So it did seem, just from the body language of both sides, you know on the panels and things, from quite early on, before there was any results even, the Yes side did seem quite deflated compared to the No side.

I: In the video of them just being in the buildings and showing them, you know the poll workers, huddled together or whatever?

Mabel: Excuse me, can you give me the water?

Justin: Please

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Oliver: So yes. So I ended up staying up all night watching it and you know following the results.

Assessment of the campaigns

I: Great. Let's talk a little about how you thought the Yes campaign did?

Hilary: I think that we did absolutely wonderfully well, when you consider they threw everything at us, {Justin says ‘Yeah’} you know apart from the kitchen sink. You know the Three Amigos came up and they broke purdah. You know if, you know why were they allowed to do that? You know. They sent up one hundred MPs from Westminster, that we've actually paid for their trip, you know to come up to tell us to vote No. Again, the imperial masters. Yeah, I just found that it was so bad.

I: But you felt like the Yes campaign...

Hilary: We absorbed it. If they had had the effect that they wanted to have, we wouldn't have got 45% voting Yes.

Oliver: A year beforehand say {Hilary says ‘Yes’} I'd never have predicted that Yes would have got 45%, I'd have thought there would have been a substantial, a much bigger No vote. So in that sense I think the campaign was extremely successful. I'd have thought that it would have been 80/20 or something, in just the year out, you know.

Francis: Basically, in some ways it is hugely positive and hugely negative, I think, from the Yes

Mabel: To hope over fear was what... that just says it all.

Hilary: And all this business of the businesses, people in the shops being told, like you know Asda, for example, that prices are going to go up in Scotland if you vote Yes. We're going to take out businesses out of Scotland if you vote Yes, and now Asda are going to be rewarded by getting people who are unemployed, they're going to get vouchers to go to ASDA. I don't go to ASDA anymore. {laughter}

Mabel: And the House of Bruar wrote to their staff and advised them to vote No. {Hilary says ‘Yes’} They actually wrote to their staff ***

Hilary: I have a friend who's a carer for, she goes and visits elderly people who suffer from Alzheimer’s and are very severely disabled, and there's this lady who is very lucid but if you go and visit her two days in a row, the second day she'll say "oh I haven't seen you for ages." Anyway, she got a letter from Alistair Darling’s office that she kept beside her polling card saying that she wouldn’t get her pension if she voted Yes. So it was all these dirty tricks that. It's illegal to do these things; why did they get away with it?

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I: So back to {laughs} just so anyone else, anyone else on the Yes campaign, your impressions of it?

Mabel: Well, the Yes campaign offered a different vision of how we could all go forward, how we could live our lives. It was the relentless negativity, and in some cases, sometimes maybe I misconstrued it wrongly, almost hatred for Scotland {Hilary says ‘Yeas’} coming from the Better Together, not all the of them but sometimes, you know and this is, and this delight "oh, this will go wrong, ha ha." You know why are you wanting us to fail? Yes, they were terribly negative, and of course they had, which Yes didn’t have, they had the support of the mainstream media, which was the big thing.

Francis: We had one Sunday newspaper.

Mabel: Yes, which came out {Francis chuckles} and funnily enough, I don't know if this is of any interest but I was speaking to somebody a couple of weeks ago, a girl from Bristol, whose boyfriend worked on the Better Together campaign advertising agency, and everything had to be passed by Alistair Darling, and some of the stuff he binned because he thought that it was too frightening. {chuckling heard} I wonder what it was! But during the course of the evening we got talking and she was astonished to find out that all the people sitting around my sister's table, about eight of us, were all Yes voters, and she was like "but why?" So we told her why, and she said, "oh, I didn't know that. I didn’t know.” They had no idea how people felt up here. I mean they didn't have an axe to grind, they just thought it was a shame that we wanted. When her boyfriend worked for the campaign he just thought "why do they want to go"? But once we spoke to her and put our case forward she saw a different side.

I: Justin?

Justin: yeah, I'm probably coming at it from a different angle though, but Yes and No, one is inherently negative and one is inherently positive, I think that's something that kind of had to be. So of course if you're arguing for a negative, it was going to be negative, if you're arguing for a positive, it was going to be positive. I think, for me, it's very difficult to say this one was successful, and this one wasn't, because if we're looking at it in those terms because of course...

I: What were the impressions but, yes.

Justin: I ended up going No towards the end, but I think if we're calling upon emotions and things like that it is more spirited, looking at the inherently positive side, I think. It was, I do think they did a good job, the Yes side, and if anything, they probably could have capitalised even further on that. But I think there was kind of media problems {laughs} entirely with that as well, one is up and one is down, it's kind of like taking a downer when you're on an upper, kind of thing. But with all things considered, I would say that they argued, with all things considered it was the No side was {chuckles} sort of this big and the Yes side were sort of this big and I do think that they fought their corner

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you know very well. They probably could have used a bit more positive...they were positive but I think that, I'm not sure how well it touched everybody but it could well be that people were just needing validation for their fears and that's why things went towards the other side.

I: The No

Justin: Yeah. That's my thinking on the whole thing. The Vow, I don't think that anybody actually believed it but it allowed people to become a victim. “But they said that and they didn't do it; they tricked me," kind of thing.

Hilary: Yeah, but devo max wasn't on the paper.

Justin: No, it wasn't. That should have been allowed in the first place, just ***. But I think everybody knew it was crap.

Hilary and Mabel: Yes, yes.

I: Beryl, if you don't mind answering, you were one of the diplomats, one of the people who kind of that had to navigate, so your impressions of the Yes and the No side, because you were more caught up in the middle of it.

Beryl: I would have to say the Yes side, their campaign, especially being on line, they used social media so much better ***. It feels like, you're talking about the positives and the negatives, its like that's why the No campaign, it like they won't even use the word No, "Better Together." it’s like then towards the end, the "eat your cereal" advert, it is just "well, independence is a wee bit scary, isn't it?" But it all just became very negative. You know the Yes campaign, you could see sort of the advert with the girl asking what Scotland am I going to be born into? It was very much capitalising on that hope. It was I just thought the whole thing was much more effective, and the No campaign always felt, everything that they came out with felt patronising. Occasionally something from the Yes but most of the time it was just.

Justin: We only have one thing to compare the other against, don't we? I suppose that's probably quite tricky, we've only got the Yes campaign against the No, and the No against the Yes. Yeah.

I: The impressions of the campaigns, different people have different impressions of how it went or what the big highlights were, or the use of social media is what you brought up. Yes, you thought, was using social media a lot more.

Francis: I think, because it was grass roots and it was so broad church, I think that was why. It really included everybody who was on the Yes side, basically. I think perhaps it was.

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Mabel: You can't really impress enough how little the media. There was no support for Yes; in the media there was no support. The only one was the Sunday Herald. But day to day, I mean if I only got the Daily Mail I probably would have voted No. You know it was so intense and so full-on all the time, relentless, that Alex Salmond was a demon, they demonised Alex Salmond, they demonised Nicola Sturgeon, they demonised cyber gnats. It was horrific; it was actually horrific.

I: One of curiosity, by a show of hands, how many people think that there will be another referendum? {chuckling; all are raising their hands}

Francis: Without a doubt, without a doubt.

Oliver: Can I just say, part of the reason I and other people, and I know it was moved increasingly towards Yes was the relentless negativity of the No campaign. You know, a) it's not just negative, and it's an appalling vision, it's not even a vision, I mean frankly they just whined much of the time and it was just this relentless appalling nonsense. {Francis speaks at the same time} So you think there must be something better than this, surely. So in that sense, I would have started as a No voter but the stuff they were coming out with was just nonsense.

Mabel: Yeah, one or two people that I know said "I was going to vote No, but really..." People looked at it and thought "this is awful; the papers are printing lies!" And I think the thing that you've got to remember too, a number of the newspaper proprietors, and the editors, are friends of David Cameron and people like. They are establishment, they really are, and you don’t underestimate the British establishment because.

Oliver: I mean the press, I can't bear to read most of it, because I just consider it to be ***. {Mabel says ‘Yes’} They're either attacking people that are unemployed or disabled or poor, {Mabel says ‘Anyone’} anyone that's not part of the rich establishment, and Scotland of course is just part of that.

Hilary: I mean the Yes wanted to make it a fairer place.

Oliver: Yes, but I'm just saying about the media, you know.

Hilary: You know it wasn't going to wave a magic wand and get rid of the food banks. I mean food banks, where did they start from? Suddenly they're there!

Mabel: And they're the norm and they're acceptable, but they shouldn't be.

Hilary: But I was on this Yes bus and I remember this man saying, “Oh, this government has been very good to me.” And I said "well, isn't that the problem then?" [laughter] "There are too many people looking about what it can do for me, what about the bigger picture, like food banks?" He says, "Oh that's lies." I said "how do you make out that it's lies? I’ve got this leaflet here that shows you where they're going to be collecting for you

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know donations." "Well they're just lazy people." "You can't have it both ways. Are they lazy liars?" {laughter}

Positives and negatives from the referendum process

I: On the question of the bigger picture, with the result, let’s say you know the good things that came out of the referendum and the bad things. People on the last group who were Yes supporters said the result was a negative thing that came out of it. But now that some time has passed and you're able to look back to reflect on what people were like before the referendum, discussion got going and what’s kind of happened, can you think of a positive or negative that you reflect back on, having gone through this process, what is it now on the other side that you can now learn from both positive things that came out of it and negative maybe that you might think about? Does that make sense? Okay. I’ll stop talking then *** {chuckles}

Mabel: Just, one of the, the most positive thing that came out was that, and I can't impress enough, the engagement of people. You know I've got three sisters, and during the referendum none of us, well, I have always been political but the other three weren't, but during the referendum that was all we talked about. Towards the end they used to ring me up and say "have you seen this, have you seen that?" And we meet up now and we talk about politics, and we're informed, and that I think that's one of the most positive things, the electorate are now informed and politicians can no longer take the majority of Scottish people for fools, because we've done our homework, we've read a lot and we know when they're lying. That's a big positive thing. I think one of the, it's difficult to pin point a negative thing that's come out of it but I suppose its, I suppose I feel a bit, the people that I know that did vote No, and I don't know very many of them, I feel that their worlds have shrunk. That’s maybe not a negative thing but it's the way I look at them now. I don't mean I don't speak to them but I look at them in a different way. I think they've got limited vision. Whether that's a negative thing, I don't know. {Hilary says ‘Yes’} It has changed how I look at them.

Justin: I think that relationship itself is negative. {Mabel says ‘Yes’} That kind of, so the No voters have got something. I think even having feeling towards people like that. But I have a, but the reverse has kind of happened to me, because I am in circles, mainly No voters, sort of academics who were worried about their jobs and things like that, or you know they'd come in from other countries and things, and there is something that's chilled, is kind of a camaraderie, I don't know. They still make jokes forgetting the way that I voted and things and it has put people into box A or box B, you're either a thug or you're sophisticated, somehow. There’s, where I'm coming from, there seems to be that kind of thing. We're divided enough. Right afterwards the division was quite clear; you saw it on George Square. And people use religion as well and monarchy and things to, to, you know, to do that. But probably because we're only weeks after it, or just a few

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months, I just kind of see that, because inevitably it does come up and you can still kind of see in people’s faces if you say which way you voted. Or I probably do it myself. When they talk about the leaders I say "are you happy now?" {laughs} that kind of thing, and that's a very regrettable place to be. On a positive, you've got good hindsight and I don't think it'll happen again. {laughs}

Francis: I think the negative for me, as a Yes voter, I find it incomprehensible. I really can't get my head around why anyone would vote no. I just don't understand it. Why wouldn't you want to run your own country? It just baffles me, it really does, {chuckles} and I don't get it at all.

Mabel: Do you ever get any coherent answers from people who voted No?

Francis: Not really, no.

Mabel: ‘Cause I haven't. I've asked a few people nicely "why don't you...?"

Francis: One woman at work voted No because she likes the Queen. Aghhh! [laughter]

Beryl: I knew somebody that did that.

Justin: I like Eastenders on the BBC.

Mabel: Yes, exactly.

Justin: My cousin, the one who campaigned, I'm very close with her and I'm still very close with here afterwards, but she was a No campaigner, and I did from her. I didn’t’, it did wash with me, but she did actually have quite good, but because I was looking further into the future than her. I think that seems to be the big divide; {Mabel says ‘Yes’} it depends on how far down the line you're willing to look about it. *** It could have been terrible for a few years. We'll never know now, of course.

Oliver: Generally people fear change, {Justin and Mabel say ‘Yeah’} anyway especially as people get older, not necessarily of course, people are "we don't know what's going to happen." We don't know what’s going to hap{Mabel says ‘Yes’} We don't know these things... But oh no, no, no

Hilary: We don't have a crystal ball.

Oliver: stay with what we've got. But you know the status quo was never an option but people thought they were voting No, I think, for a status quo...

Justin: Or for no change

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Oliver: Yeah, that's not an option, because we're going to have a general election, we're going to have another Scottish election, change is inevitable. But people fear anything new.

Beryl: What persuaded me was that realisation of well, if we vote No we're still, all we can say is that there's a chance that we're going to end up in some UKIP/Conservative coalition, {Oliver says ‘Oh yeah’} or we're still going to have nuclear weapons, and it's like, you know there was a chance of Yes.

Hilary: There's a friend that I have known for 35 years, and I recently moved over this side from Glasgow, I was there for 10 years, and it was about March I said "Oh I'm going to be on the Yes stall." And she said "Oh don't talk to me about that rubbish!" I said "well, sorry, it's not rubbish, this is our future." And I didn't see her until after the referendum and she said "ha, ha, and you were with the Yes people, weren't you?" And I said “well yes, and you will find it very difficult if they start fracking underneath your house and fill it with nuclear waste." And her response was "the land can take it." Sorry but she's an ex-friend, {Mabel laughs} because she knows where I’ve been coming from all my life, its like she’s disrespecting me, not just what I voted in the referendum, she's disrespecting me as a person. You know but I find that we're being punished for actually having the audacity to have a referendum, inasmuch as there was just the other day they moved the helicopters from Kinross to Plymouth, so we don't have anything up here. We had to get NATO to come and check a ship {Francis says ‘submarine’} yeah, submarine off the North coast and we had no...

Mabel: I believe the helicopters are staying, but it's the control room that has gone to Plymouth, I believe, but someone said that the people in Plymouth don't have knowledge of the area round there so it's going to make it a very difficult and rescue a lot harder.

I: I’m sorry.

Mabel: Sorry, we are digressing.

I: No its okay. Its just that time is precious. We have twenty minutes. Its gone, we have twenty minutes left. Its great. So do you think the experience of having gone through the referendum now is going to change the way you evaluate the 2015 general election, like how you're going to vote? So nods, so everyone’s going, lots of nods. Can you give some examples, like how? You mentioned before that people are going to be a bit more engaged but I'm just wondering if there's about looking forward to that next election that you're already starting to think about and make some decisions about or having questions about? Beryl, do you mind? Or if you don’t have an answer because I called on you.

Beryl: Sure, I know coming up for the general elections like you can sense that sort of, all the young people I know, they are much more engaged now, definitely. Everyone is

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sitting up now, you know that they're watching Question Time because afterward you go on Facebook and "oh, what about what Cameron said today?" {laughter}

I: You see a difference in how people are engaging in politics like from a year or two years ago till now?

Beryl: Yes.

Party leader handout

I: Alright. So then let's just move on...the last thing, I have done this in three elections where we are doing impressions, this is in preparation for 2010, sorry I keep saying 2010 because it’s the last time I did it. 2015, so we're going to wrap up the referendum discussion now and look a little bit ahead to the next election. Also, as part of this, I should mention we are currently submitting, submitted a proposal for funding to repeat the Quality Election Study of Britain in 2015, which basically means going around the country and doing conversations like this. Because you've been now in this one, we would very much like to recruit you for the pre-election focus group, if we're successful, and the post-election, and that way we'll get to hear about like, hear about the things from well before, after the referendum, and then right before the General and then after the General, your impressions. So, as part of that we did this little thing where we want the impressions of the national leader, and then we also have Nicola Sturgeon here as well. What I'm looking for is: if I were to say think of a word, a single word or just a phrase, if I said Jeremy Paxman, what kind of individual words, or emotions, or associations come to mind? Oliver, a word for Jeremy Paxman?

Oliver: Jeremy Paxman?

I: Sorry, its really terrible because you don't watch television, anyone else?

Oliver: I've seen him in the past but I haven't seen him for years...

I: Oh fair enough. Anyone else?

Hilary: Arrogant.

I: There you go.

Francis: Feisty.

I: Fiesty. Yup. So that's the kind of thing. My gosh he doesn’t have a television. {laughs}

Oliver: I know who he is. I have seen him *** but not for a long time.

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I: Sure. And that’s what we are looking for. First impressions, gut reactions, write those down, and also to help us to know if it's a positive association or a negative one, or if you're torn, you don't really know, we also ask if you could put a plus next to a word. Even if its, like, someone wrote 'afraid' and they quoted that as a positive because they thought that it was good that the politician was seemed a little overwhelmed, because it made him more human, like he was taking the job seriously. But if I would have thought 'afraid' I'd have taken it as a negative. That's why we want you to help us to make sure we get you right. So, it's just first impressions.

Mabel: Is there a number of words for each person?

I2: As many as you want.

I: As many or as few as you want. Sometimes people don't have some, an opinion about somebody.

Francis: More than one or just one?

I: One, two or three.

I2: As many as you want, and just your first gut reaction, don't over think it, that's the main thing.

Mabel: Oh! I know, I've got to look at them. {laughs}

I2: You can put that down as well.

Hilary: Can I just stand on him?

Mabel: I'm glad you don't have George Osborne here. {Francis laughs} I don't think I could cope with that, honestly. I don't have words for him.

Francis: It's hard to describe any words to describe Miliband. {laughs}

Mabel: Yes, I know. I put bland {Francis laughs}

Beryl: Useless, forgetful?

{silence}

I2: If you can’t think of anything, its fine. You don’t have to force yourself.

Justin: I’m just trying to articulate it in my head {Moderator 2 laughs}

I2: This gut reaction.

Justin: No, but its just trying to find the right word that’s not too colloquial either

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I2: Its fine if its colloquial. I’ll get somebody who understands what you mean. {laughs}

{silence}

Francis: I take it you’ve got three groups, all Yeses, undecideds and Nos {Moderator 1 nods} *** {laughter}

I2: We will have an event in the new year, so somewhere in January and February, what I was mentioning in the other questionnaire where we will actually put all of this together and show patterns and similarities and differences among the groups. So yeah.

I1: We think so {laughs}

I2: Yeah {laughs}

I1: And tomorrow, we’re, well we don’t have any money for it so we are volunteering our time and some activists on the Yes and No campaigns are volunteering their time, again in separate groups, but we are going to sit down with some of the activists too and hear some of their stories so we can get not only voters but people who were involved too and some people too were active but we wanted to make sure we had people specifically who were involved in activism.

{silence}

Francis: Its interesting though. All of us on this table were Yes. {Moderator 1 laughs}

I1: *** So we are going to start at the bottom and work our way up. So what I do for each of these people is I say first ‘Positive’ and then people can throw out the positive words that they threw out and maybe we can talk a little bit about if you feel it needs an explanation. Then I say ‘Neutral’ and then same, and then ‘Negative’. And then I move to Nick Clegg, and then Ed Miliband, and David Cameron. So that’s how we work. And if everyone here is Yes then I have a feeling that the pattern we saw in the last group {laughter} which means that it will go really quick once we get to these three gentlemen. But yes, Nicola Sturgeon. Positives for her.

Francis: Feisty.

I1: Feisty?

Francis: Strong, inclusive and ***

I1: And all positives? Yeah, of course, ‘cause I asked you positives. Sorry. Its been a long day.

Oliver: Honest, decent, hardworking, ***

I1: Anyone want to add to that?

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Beryl: Left wing,

I1: As a positive?

Beryl: yeah ***

I1: Yeah?

Mabel: I’ve got genuine, trustworthy, and determined.

Hilary: Strong, positive, caring, and capable.

I1: Any neutrals?

Justin: My positive for her was ***. I put

I1: Oh I’m sorry.

Justin: Yeah, I put realistic as a neutral {laughs}

I1: and why is it a neutral, if I could?

Justin: Because I think that could really go either way because it would be a, using it the same it could be a, I think sometimes it’s a good idea to maybe be a little bit overreaching, in some kind of politics and maybe having a little bit more rope than is realistic is a good idea.

I1: Yeah, that makes sense.

Justin: Yeah.

I1: I gotta ask because now I understand your intention. Other neutrals? Any negatives?

Beryl: I said that occasionally she seems like she may be a little bit of a nationalist which I consider putting neutral but I ended up putting as because I didn’t feel like that sort of not one of the best reasons to vote, to support independence at least as far as I can see.

I1: Anyone else? Great. Then we’ll start with Nick Clegg. Any positives? Nope.

Hilary: Well he’s a Yes man {laughter and Hilary and moderator talking over each other}

I1: Any neutrals?

Justin: I put opportunist.

I2: And why is that? Oh sorry?

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I1: No yeah sorry. Yeah, yeah.

Justin: I think he was willing to *** say anything to get to where he is. And then again that’s not always negative.

I1: Right. That’s why ***. It kind of maps on to your realistic {laughs}

Justin: Yeah.

I1: You don’t want to be too optimistic but he’s a politician so its probably neutral.

Mabel: I suppose we are looking at this as non-politicians and sometimes politicians do have to do, make decisions and be things that normal people aren’t.

Oliver: ***

Mabel: Yeah. We’re maybe being too black and white in this but putting ** you know, yeah.

I1: Well, that’s why we have it as a neutral.

Mabel: Yes.

I1: Its not just yes and no, we have the middle ground. *** Negatives?

Francis: Spineless

Beryl: Background figure

I1: As in he stands in the background?

Beryl: Yeah.

Justin: Yeah. I put third wheel {laughs}

Mabel: I’ve got duplicitous, untrust-, duplicitous, untrustworthy and power hungry

Justin: Out of his depth.

I1: Out of his depth.

Hilary: He’s a wimp.

Oliver: Duplicitous, again, two-faced, liar {Justin laughs}

I1: You know? We published research, sorry, I’ll do a little side, we published research in 2010 based on this. Of course that was the beginning, right, of Cleggmania and he had

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just done the debates and he got all, all positives in terms of honesty and none of the negatives. So we are really fascinated seeing how it has changed {participants chuckle}

Hilary: He’s lost his street cred, yeah.

Justin: Yeah. He’s gone.

I1: Ed Miliband. Positives?

Oliver: Well meaning.

Justin: Awww {laughter}

Hilary: He’s being kind.

Mabel: Yes, yes, yes, yes

Oliver: {laughs} I think he is, I think well

Justin: As a neutral, I put optimistic

I1: Okay so neutral is optimistic. Other neutrals?

Mabel: I just, well, I’ve just put ineffectual which could be neutral and

Hilary: Yeah, I’ve put nondescript {laughs}

Francis: Bland.

I1: Bland.

Oliver: Managerial {laughter} as a neutral

I1: Yeah.

Oliver: Probably be reasonably competent managing the country

Francis: ***

I1: And negatives?

Beryl: I’ve said he’s uninvested, just realise he would do a better job if he did care, maybe he’d remember his speeches {chuckling} *** comes to mind

Mabel: Useless

Justin: Comes across as oblivious, he seems to inhabit his own world

I1: Anyone else who would want to have a good go at Ed? {laughter}

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Oliver: I’ve put unclear ideology but what I mean is he doesn’t, I am not quite sure what, what he really stands for, his *** as well, he comes across as quite ineffective really

Hilary: Yes, he just wants to do the same, his policies are just the same. He’s going to continue all the cuts

Oliver: Yeah.

Hilary: If he gets voted in. So

Oliver: Well he seems to be very, really not quite sure,

Hilary: Exactly

Oliver: It seems to be basically he’s not really offering a reasonable alternative ***

Hilary: ***

I1: Right, David Cameron. Any positives? I’m sure you guys’ll laugh at my face.

Justin: I’m sure he’s, for, for, for his group

I1: Yeah

Justin: I’m sure he does a good job in keeping his posse {chuckling heard} yeah, yeah, *** So I suppose as a Conservative, he’s quite a good Conservative {Moderator 1 laughs} like that {laughs}

I1: For a Conservative, he’s quite a good Conservative {laughs}

Justin: It’ll be for, for them I suppose.

Mabel: He sticks to party lines

Justin: Okay. There you go, you see? There’s no Left in him. {Moderator 1 laughs}

Beryl: For you know, obviously his idea for what’s best for Britain, he tries hard. He does, I mean, ‘cause he’s inherited to a degree this situation and he is attempting to get us out of it, just not necessarily {pause} with, or looking at people who need help the most, I would say.

I1: Neutrals for Cameron, perhaps? Okay. Negatives?

Mabel: Uncaring, arrogant, unprincipled, and out of touch.

I1: Okay.

Francis: Smug, oily, duplicitous.

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I2: We’ve heard that one before { Moderator 1 laughs}

Hilary: Sickening, despicable, I mean I am not a violent person but I would gladly walk over his face {Moderator 1 chuckles}

I1: Oliver, negatives?

Oliver: Vile, evil, liar, *** {laughter} agent to the superrich individuals and corporations

Hilary: *** {Moderator 1 laughs}

Oliver: I wouldn’t walk on his face, I’d stamp on his face.

Hilary: well, yes {laughs}

Oliver: ***

Hilary: You’d probably be stronger than me {laughter}

Oliver: *** Or something like that. I won’t bore you with that story now.

I1: Justin?

Justin: Well it just the same names. Power hungry and just unconcerned really

I1: Unconcerned. Beryl, any last thoughts?

Beryl: No, sorry.

Father Christmas’ gifts

I1: It’s okay. It’s alright. Yeah, so at the beginning I said to you if Father Christmas were asking you for recommendations for what these guys could use, do you have any suggestions for what he could bring to any, either Clegg, Cameron, or Miliband?

Francis: Clegg, a backbone

I1: Backbone, Clegg, back, backbone?

Francis: Yeah {chuckles}

I1: {laughs} Right

Beryl: Ed Miliband, a writing pad?

I1: {laughs} okay

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Oliver: Charisma? {laughter}

Hilary: You know it was like the Wizard of Oz, half a brain and heart, and courage {laughter}

I1: I think you might have just broke the internet with that answer when we *** that out {participants laugh} a heart, a brain, and backbone, and courage {laughs} Alright. Well, okay, so this is it, we’ve come to the end. Thank you very much. Its been 90 minutes. When we get all your paperwork done. We’re going to be now, you can leave all your paperwork here. If you would like to take your information sheet with you, you can. But the consent form and the first impressions and the other paperwork you filled out. There is something about public events on the back of one of the sheets?

I2: Yeah. There is one questionnaire where we have asked you to fill in various, just a few questions, so if you could please fill that in and the last question on that is if you want to be informed of any public events that we are going to do out of this group, if you want to participate in future focus groups

I1: You’ll be paid again.

I2: yeah.

I1: Not the same amount.

I2: Not for the public event but for the focus groups, yeah {laughs}.

I1: Yeah, yeah, yeah {laughs} but I’m sure

I2: Then please let us, please tick the box. There is another, another activity that we are going to be doing as part of this, focus groups, referendum focus group project and we’re calling it ‘Your Indyref Story’. And as you can imagine this 90 minutes is not enough to capture the stories of all of you gathered here. So we want to actually get the full story right from the beginning till looking forward. And obviously all of this will be, will follow the same ethical procedure that the focus group follows. So if you are interested in helping us record your story then please tick that box as well or you can get in touch with me and I will come and record the story for you. So if you are not sure how to use say one of these, or you are not sure about recording it on skype or Google Hangout, or whatever, I am happy to sit with you. And also if you know other people who would like to do this, we are happy to get as much data as possible, as many people involved as possible.

I1: So just like friends you would like to invite over for coffee

I2: Yeah, and just sit around and talk about the referendum. I’m happy to come and sit with you and just stay in the background and just put the recorder there. Yeah, so just get in touch with me if you are planning something like this, very happy to do it.

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Voters 3

I1: and what we need from you is a signature to prove to the university that we didn’t abscond with the money {chuckling} *** that we actually paid you guys for, for your time and yeah, there’s a couple of sheets, we’ll just have you sign those and we’ll give you your payment and you guys can be on with your day. So

Mabel: Thank you very much.

{Participants talking over each other}

I1: Fantastic, great group.

{Recorded interactions not transcribed from this point}

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