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Dr Sally Stares

Dr Sally Stares

Associate Professor (Education)

Department of Methodology

Email
S.R.Stares@lse.ac.uk
Room No
CON.1.05
Office Hours
Please refer to Student Hub for booking details
orcid
0000-0003-4697-0347
Languages
English
Key Expertise
Survey methods, public opinion, public perceptions of science & technology

About me

I am a social psychologist, with particular interests in survey methods, public opinion, and public perceptions of new technologies. I returned to LSE after nine years as a lecturer/senior lecturer at City, University of London in their Sociology Department’s Q-Step Centre, teaching quantitative methods to social scientists at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and relaunching their MSc in Research Methods for social scientists. I did my first degree in Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University and moved to LSE to take the MSc in Social Research Methods and a PhD in Social Psychology. I have worked on research projects on various topics, but the constant element in my career has been teaching quantitative methods, particularly at introductory and intermediate levels to those who are new to this approach.

Research Interests

My primary substantive interest is in science, technology and society, and mostly relates to public perceptions of new technologies. I am an editorial board member for the journal Public Understanding of Science. Most recently I have been working on public perceptions of self-driving vehicles and of automated video journalism, and public perceptions of the criminal standard of proof in criminal trials.

Methodologically my main expertise is in survey question design and analysis (particularly application of latent variable models) for measuring attitudes, perceptions and similar constructs.

Past work on other topics includes an EU funded project on a community-based diversity-aware chat app; typologies of poverty in Scotland; quantitative data work for the Global Civil Society Yearbook; and research methods advisory roles for the Social Mobility Commission, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and African Leadership Centre (Kings College London/University of Nairobi).

Chapters in books
Chapters in books

Gaskell, G., Stares, S. and Fischler, C. (2013). Have GM crops and food a future in Europe? In Bennett, DJ and Jennings, RC (eds), Successful Agricultural Innovation in Emerging Economies: New Genetic Technologies for Global Food Production (pp. 331-347). doi:10.1017/CBO9781139208475.024

Mejlgaard, N., & Stares, S. (2012). Validating survey measures of scientific citizenship. In The Culture of Science: How the Public Relates to Science across the Globe (pp. 418-435). doi:10.4324/9780203813621

Stares, S. (2012). Using latent trait models to assess cross-national scales of the public’s knowledge about science and technology. In The Culture of Science: How the Public Relates to Science across the Globe (pp. 241-261). doi:10.4324/9780203813621

Stares, S., Deel, S., & Timms, J. (2012). Bordering on the unknown: approaches to global civil society data. In M. Kaldor, H. L. Moore, & S. Selchow (Eds.), Global Civil Society 2012: Ten Years of Critical Reflection. London: Palgrave.

Gaskell, G., Stares, S., & Kronberger, N. (2011). The public’s view of science. In Successful Science Communication (pp. 60-76). doi:10.1017/CBO9780511760228.006

Stares, S. (2009). Global civil society and poverty statistics. In A. Kumar, J. A. Scholte, M. Kaldor, H. Seckinelgin, & H. Anheier (Eds.), Global Civil Society Yearbook 2009: Poverty and Activism. London: Sage.

Anheier, H., Stares, S., & Grenier, P. (2004). Social capital and life satisfaction. In W. Arts, & L. Halman (Eds.), European Values at the Turn of the Millennium. Leiden: Brill.

Anheier, H., & Stares, S. (2002). Introducing the Global Civil Society Index. In M. Glasius, M. Kaldor, & H. Anheier (Eds.), Global Civil Society 2002. OUP.

 

Journal Articles

Journal articles

Tennant, C., Stilgoe, J., Vucevic, S., & Stares, S. (2024). Public anticipations of self-driving vehicles in the UK and US. Mobilities, 1–18. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2024.2325386

Stares, S. (2022). Edna Einsiedel: ‘What the journal has done best is to illustrate the richness and diversity of the relationships between science and its many publics’. Public Understanding of Science, 31(3), pp. 356–360. doi:10.1177/09636625221085341.

Tennant, C., Howard, S. and Stares, S. (2021). Building the UK vision of a driverless future: A Parliamentary Inquiry case study. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8(1). doi:10.1057/s41599-021-00882-y.

Koliska, M., Thurman, N., Stares, S. and Kunert, J. (2021). Exploring Audience Perceptions of, and Preferences for, Online News Videos. Journalism Studies, 22(9), pp. 1161–1180. doi:10.1080/1461670x.2021.1927154.

Cohen, T., Stilgoe, J., Stares, S., Akyelken, N., Cavoli, C., Day, J., Dickinson, J., Fors, V., Hopkins, D., Lyons, G., Marres, N., Newman, J., Reardon, L., Sipe, N., Tennant, C., Wadud, Z. and Wigley, E. (2020). A constructive role for social science in the development of automated vehicles. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 6, pp. 100133–100133. doi:10.1016/j.trip.2020.100133.

Tennant, C., Stares, S. and Howard, S. (2019). Public discomfort at the prospect of autonomous vehicles: Building on previous surveys to measure attitudes in 11 countries. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 64, pp. 98–118. doi:10.1016/j.trf.2019.04.017.

Allum, N., Allansdottir, A., Gaskell, G., Hampel, J., Jackson, J., Moldovan, A., Priest, S., Stares, S. and Stoneman, P. (2017). Religion and the public ethics of stem-cell research: Attitudes in Europe, Canada and the United States. PLoS ONE, 12(4). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0176274

Mejlgaard, N., & Stares, S. (2013). Performed and preferred participation in science and technology across Europe: Exploring an alternative idea of "democratic deficit". Public Understanding of Science, 22(6), 660-673. doi:10.1177/0963662512446560

Gaskell, G., Stares, S., & Pottage, A. (2012). How Europe's ethical divide looms over biotech law and patents. Nature Biotechnology, 30(5), 392-394. doi:10.1038/nbt.2201

Jackson, J., Bradford, B., Hough, M., Kuha, J., Stares, S., Widdop, S., Fitzgerald, R., Yordanova, M. and Galev, T. (2011). Developing European indicators of trust in justice. European Journal of Criminology, 8(4), 267-285. doi:10.1177/1477370811411458

Gaskell, G., Allansdottir, A., Allum, N., Castro, P., Esmer, Y., Fischler, C, Hampel, J., Jackson, J., Kronberger, N., Mejlgaard, N., Quintanilha, A., Rammer, A., Revuelta, G., Stoneman, P., Torgersen, H. and. Wager, W. (2011). The 2010 Eurobarometer on the life sciences. Nature Biotechnology, 29(2), 113-114. doi:10.1038/nbt.1771

Mejlgaard, N., & Stares, S. (2010). Participation and competence as joint components in a cross-national analysis of scientific citizenship. Public Understanding of Science, 19(5), 545-561. doi:10.1177/0963662509335456

Stares, S. (2009). Using latent class models to explore cross-national typologies of Public engagement with Science and technology in Europe. Science, Technology and Society, 14(2), 289-329. doi:10.1177/097172180901400205

Reports
Reports

Tennant, C., Stares, S., Vucevic, S. and Stilgoe, J. (2022) Driverless Futures? A survey of UK public attitudes. Report for ESRC funded project Driverless Futures? https://driverlessfutures.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/df-uk-report-final-09-05.pdf

Tennant, C., Stares, S., Vucevic, S. and Stilgoe, J. (2022) Driverless Futures? A survey of US public attitudes. Report for ESRC funded project Driverless Futures? https://driverlessfutures.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/df-us-report-final-09-05-1.pdf 

Tennant, C., Stares, S., Vucevic, S. and Stilgoe, J. (2022) Driverless Futures? A survey of expert attitudes. Report for ESRC funded project Driverless Futures? https://driverlessfutures.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/df-expert-report-final-09-05.pdf  

Barnes, M., Stares, S., Wood, C., Vibert, S., & Lord, C. (2017). Poverty in Perspective: A typology of poverty in Scotland. Edinburgh: The Scottish Government. ISBN 978-1-78652-873-5. https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/17177/

Gaskell, G., Stares, S., Allansdottir, A., Allum, N., Castro, P., Fischler, C, Esmer, Y., Hampel, J., Jackson, J., Kronberger, N., Mejlgaard, N., Quintanilha, A., Rammer, A., Revuelta, G., Stoneman, P., Torgersen, H. and Wagner, W. (2010). Europeans and Biotechnology in 2010: Winds of change? (Eurobarometer 73.1): Report to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/23393

Gaskell, G., Stares, S., Allansdottir, A., Allum, N., Corchero, C., Fischler, C., Hampel, J., Jackson, J., Kronberger, N., Mejlgaard, N., Revuelta, G., Schreiner, C., Torgersen, H. and Wagner, W. (2005). Europeans and Biotechnology in 2005: Patterns and trends (Eurobarometer 64.3): Report to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research.

Gaskell, G., Allum, N., & Stares, S. (2003). Europeans and Biotechnology in 2002 (Eurobarometer 58.0): Report to the EC Directorate General for Research from the project 'Life Sciences in European Society’.

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