"We insisted that any competent social scientist (our aim for PhD and MSc students) should be knowledgeable in both the quantitative and qualitative social science research traditions, for without such a competence how can one bring a critical eye to the literature?"
- Professor George Gaskell reflects on the importance of research methods as part of our 30th Anniversary celebrations. Read the full close-up with Methodology faculty.
George Gaskell BSc PhD, C.Psychol, Fellow AcSS. Emeritus Professor of Social Psychology and Research Methodology.
George joined the School in 1971. His career at the School includes the Department of Social Psychology; establishing and co-directing the Methodology Institute (now Department); Vice Chair of the Appointments Committee; Pro-director Planning and Resources.
Research interests
Behavioural science; science in society; social and ethical implications of the life sciences, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. He has published in leading social science journals, in Science and Nature.
Research projects and recent reports
Currently chair of LSE and Partners Consortium on Behavioural Science, conducting studies in support of European Commission Directives and policy discussions on tobacco health warnings, energy labelling; environmental footprints, on-line gambling and protective measures for children playing on-line games. He is participating in two EC Horizon projects on Research Integrity and WeNet: the internet of us.
Selected publications
Science, technology and society
Gaskell, G et al. (2012). Publics and Biobanks: European Diversity and the Challenge of Responsible Innovation", European Journal of Human Genetics 1–7.
Gaskell, G., Stares, S. and Pottage, A. (2012). How Europe’s ethical divide looms over biotech law and patents, Nature Biotechnology 30, 5, 392-394.
Gottweis, H., Gaskell, G. and Starkbaum, J. (2011). Connecting the public with biobank research: reciprocity matters, Nature Reviews Genetics, 12, 738-739.
Gaskell, G. and Gottweis, H. (2011) Biobanks need publicity, Nature, 47,159-160.
Gaskell, G. et al (2011) The 2010 Eurobarometer on the life sciences, Nature Biotechnology, 29, 2, 113-114.
Behavioural science
Bogliacino, F., Gaskell, G. et al (2015). Pathos and Ethos: Emotions and willingness to pay for tobacco products, PLOS ONE, 20 October 2015.
Codagnone, C., Bogliacino, F., Veltri, G.A., Lupiáñez-Villanueva, F., Gaskell, G (2014). Nudging in the World of International Policymaking: PART 3 – Applied Perspectives, Psychology and Behavioral Economics in Practice. In A. Samson (Ed.), The Behavioral Economics Guide 2014 (1st ed.) (pp. 51-58). http://www.behavioraleconomics.com.
Representations, beliefs and attitudes
Lopes, C.A. and Gaskell, G (2015). Social Representations and Societal Psychology. Ch.2 in G.
Sammut, E. Andreouli and G.Gaskell (eds). Handbook of Social Representations. Oxford: OUP.
Sammut, G and Gaskell, G (2010) Points of view, social positioning and intercultural relations. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 40, 1, 47-64.
Bauer, M. and Gaskell, G (2008) Social representations theory: a progressive research programme, Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 38, 4, 335-353.
Bauer, M. W. and Gaskell, G. (1999). Towards a paradigm for research on social representations, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 29, 2 163-186.
Research methodology
Gaskell, G., Hohl, K and Gerber, M. Do closed survey questions over-estimate public perceptions of food risks? (under review)
Hohl, K and Gaskell, G. (2008) European public perceptions of food risk: cross national and methodological comparisons. Risk Analysis, 28, 2, 311-324.
Bauer, M. W. and Gaskell, G. (2000) (eds) Qualitative researching with text, image and sound. London: Sage.