Rory Fitzgerald

Rory Fitzgerald

Senior Research Fellow and Acting Director of the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys

Department of Sociology

Overview

Mr Rory Fitzgerald has been a Senior Research Fellow at City University London since 2004, became Deputy Director of its Centre for Comparative Social Surveys in 2007 and its Acting Director in 2012. He is the Principal Investigator of the European Social Survey (ESS) and oversees its Central Coordinating Team (CCT).

The ESS is a rigorous comparative survey of changing attitudes and values in and between 34 European countries. With other members of the CCT he was awarded the Descartes Prize in 2005 for 'excellence in collaborative scientific research'. The UK government is expected to apply for the ESS to become a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in 2012.

Research interests

His key area of expertise is cross-national survey methodology with a focus on questionnaire design and non response issues. He is also playing a key role in the ESS preparatory phase designed to transform the ESS into a long term sustained pan European infrastructure. 

Prior to joining City, Mr Fitzgerald was a Research Director at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), having previously worked at Gallup specialising in political opinion polling. 

Selected publications

Books (authored)

Stoop, I.; Billiet, J.; Koch, A.; Fitzgerald, R. (2010) Survey nonresponse in Europe: Lessons from the European Social Survey. London: Wiley.

Books (edited)

Jowell, R.; Roberts, C.; Fitzgerald, R.; Eva, G. (Eds.) (2007) Measuring attitudes cross-nationally: Lessons from the European Social Survey. London: Sage Publications.

Book chapters

Fitzgerald R, Harrison E & Steinmaier, F ( 2011) 'Age identity and conflict: Myths and realities' in Park A et al, (eds), British Social Attitudes: the 27th Report, London: Sage.

Jowell, R.; Fitzgerald, R.; Jowell, R. (2010) 'Measurement Equivalence in Comparative Surveys: The European Social Survey - From design to implementation and beyond' in Harkness et al (Eds), Cross-Cultural Survey Methods, London: Wiley.

Harrison, E.; Fitzgerald, R. (2010) 'A chorus of disapproval? European attitudes to non-traditional family patterns' in Park, A.; Curtice, J.; Thomson, K.; Phillips, M.; Clery, E.; Butt, S. (Eds), British Social Attitudes: the 26th Report, London: Sage.

Harrison E., Jowell R & Fitzgerald R. (2007) 'Non-respondents in the European Social Survey: in a class of their own? ', in Loosveldt et al (Eds), Measuring meaningful data in social research, Leuven: Acco.

Jowell, R.; Kaase, M.; Fitzgerald, R.; Eva, G. 'The European Social Survey as a measurement model,' in Jowell et al (Eds) (2007) Measuring attitudes cross-nationally: Lessons from the European Social Survey. London: Sage Publications.

Journal articles

Fitzgerald R, Widdop S, Gray M & Collins D (2011), 'Identifying sources of error in cross- national questionnaires: application of an error source typology to cognitive interview data', Journal of Official Statistics, December, Vol 27, No.4, pp1-32

Billiet, J.; Philippens ,M.; Fitzgerald, R.; Stoop, I. (2005) 'Estimation of Response bias in The European Social Survey: using information from reluctant respondents in Round One'. Journal of Official Statistics, Volume 23, Number 2, Pages 135-162.

Davis, G.; Finch, S.; Fitzgerald, R. (2001) 'Mediation and legal services the client speaks'. Family Law, Volume 31, Pages 110-114.

Professional activities