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I've always been somewhat wary of numbers you know they seem so so definite so solid so

relatively unnegotiable even though I do well remember Robert Robinson once declaring that if the listening

figures for your program went down, then you queried the methodology.

If they went up, you immediately asked for a raise.

And it's that apparent solidity of numbers which has also led to something of a

neglect of quantitative studies on thinking aloud. I mean if a large carefully constructed study shows

that say 60% of the British population regard fish and

chips as their favorite meal. There's not much room for extended

discussion, is there? What sort of chips are we talking about here? Presumely

that word fish covers Harak as well as cod and place. Well you see what I mean. But if

some quantitative studies do address critical social and cultural issues then they should be given proper attention.

Consider the Home Office Citizenship Survey.

It's a survey specifically designed to contribute to policy debates,

a survey which asked respondents about the degree to which they feel British,

and how any such identification sits alongside their other religious or cultural beliefs.

So what are the findings, and how might they be interpreted?

Which time to me to turn now to my first guest to Safran Carlson and she's from

the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at the University of Bristol.

And it's her co-authored analysis of the Citizenship Survey figures which has recently been

published in the Sociiological review under the title

...