Inspired by 2015 being the ‘international year of evaluation’, we began the morning with a focus on evaluation. First up was Lucy Mowat from Wakefield District Housing who talked to us about their Cash Wise Big Lottery project and how it was evaluated:

Evaluation case study: CashWise (Wakefield District Housing)

CashWise (video)

Continuing with the evaluation theme, we heard from Sarah Thurgood and Owen Richardson from the Kirklees Public Health Intelligence Team who shared learning from their evaluation of a local project called Auntie Pam’s:

Evaluation case study: Auntie Pam’s (Kirklees Council)

…one of this year’s LARIA Research Impact award winners!

It was then time to move into table discussions. This part of the event provided an opportunity for people to discuss and explore some key issues together – sharing challenges, questions, good practice, ideas and solutions with a focus on one of six topics:

• Open data – successes and challenges
• JSNA – asset based approaches
• Linking intelligence and performance
• Online panels
• Structures, roles and new ways of working
• Learning and development for researchers

…as well as the chance to refuel with coffee and biscuits! There was a definite buzz in the room with lots of lively discussion and people making contacts.

Discussion summaries

Open Data Guide, Principles & FAQs (Leeds Data Mill)

Our final set of presentations was themed around tools and techniques. Kelly Charles (ResearchBods) discussed making the most of online insight communities, Andrew Fitzpatrick (Kirklees Council) explored the power of maps and Diane Armstrong (QSR International) focused on qualitative analysis – human vs. machine.

Online insight communities (ResearchBods)

More than just a map (Kirklees Council)

Qualitative analysis – NVivo (QSR International)

NVivo – Cheshire East Case Study

And before we knew it the morning was over – a big thank you once again to all of our speakers, table facilitators and everyone who attended.

Alison Monkhouse

LARIA Regional Co-Ordinator, Yorkshire & the Humber

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By John Heneghan – Head of Policy & Strategy, Kirklees Council.

We’ve started a major transformation programme in Kirklees, with the aim of creating our ‘New Council’…

We want to become a more enabling council … a council which connects ideas, people and resources, so we can support communities to harness and build on their strengths. This shift of focus is about creating trust and synergy. We will be collaborating – locally, regionally, nationally and internationally – to find new solutions.

To support this vision, we’re developing a new approach to policy and strategy. We see reconnecting policy and practice as a key part of our new council ethos.

Our new approach will be more connected, collaborative and citizen-centred. We will generate solutions through experimentation, prototyping and iteration. It’s a much more dynamic and adaptive process than traditional strategy design and implementation.

Here are some of the key stages in our new strategy model and my reflections on the essential role played by research and intelligence…

Problem framing: We begin by problem framing – because trying to solve the wrong problem is, well, a common problem. Many strategies fail to articulate the problem they are trying to solve or to describe what success would look like.

Does our intelligence, insight and analysis suggest there is a need for a solution?

Using insight from customer or citizen engagement is a critical part of problem framing. By understanding the problem through the lens of the service user, customer or citizen we can avoid creating the perfect solution for the wrong problem.

Ideation: Through collaboration and citizen engagement we seek to generate different perspectives on the problem and ideas for possible solutions. Insight, in its broadest sense, is essential for idea generation – we need to seek out perspectives that are different from our own to avoid fitting the problem to our existing expertise.

We must use ideas which flow from customer insight; to bring in fresh perspectives by working collaboratively; and to ensure that our ideas are not just top-down. To do this, we need to use approaches which engage the whole workforce and are highly participative.

We rely on our research, intelligence and analysis to test if the ideas that emerge are credible hypotheses, not random shots in the dark.

Logic model: The logic model or “theory of change” gets us to focus on how we will evaluate potential solutions and how we will measure success. It aims to develop a logical proposition – we believe that if we do x it will lead to y – and a clear relationship between our activities, outputs, outcomes and longer term impact. It challenges us to isolate metrics for all our activities – describing what we will measure and developing a plan for how we will collect this data.

There are three big reasons why measuring impact is important:

• Measuring impact allows us to check and see if we’re on track, and this can inform whether or not we should adjust our plans.
• Having clear goals and ways to measure our progress towards them helps bring stakeholders together around a common purpose. It keeps everyone focused on the end goal, which is very important when working with multiple partners.
• Having data to help tell our story gives us a clear and compelling way to communicate what we’re doing, what we’re going to achieve and what we have achieved so far.

Altogether, this helps us to gain support for the programme both internally and externally.

Hypothesis testing: Traditionally, we write a strategy, consult on it, refine the strategy and then implement it through a delivery plan. We take a different approach now, taking a cue from The Lean Start Up, Eric Ries’s bible for entrepreneurs. Ries recommends seeing business as a real-world experiment and making a hypothesis about what will work – a minimum viable product – to test with real consumers.

We need to acknowledge that all strategies – and, I would argue, most of our projects and programmes – contain assumptions. Too often though, it’s not until we’re well into our delivery that we realise our assumptions were wrong, and the strategy is not having the traction or impact we had planned for. Experimentation and prototyping are key for making our strategies less risky. Using these methods, we can test our core assumptions in a small way early on, experiment to see what works in the real world, then iterate or pivot until we can show success.

Our capacity for research, intelligence and insight is central to this and to all the stages in our new strategy model. It really is the engine of effective strategy implementation and public sector innovation.

(Photo credit: Ray Morris1, Byram Arcade – Huddersfield)

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We all know that councils face huge pressures to make savings. As budgets are reduced, the need to explore new ways of delivering services while still protecting the most vulnerable residents is more important than ever.

In this environment, research and consultation may seem like a ‘nice to have’, but the need for high quality research has never been more vital and should be at the heart of local decision making.

Increasingly we find that it is, and its role in driving and balancing change where difficult decisions have to be made can be vital to policy as local authorities respond to the changing funding landscape.

Local area research comes of age

So, councils have a greater need than ever for high quality, targeted local area research to provide genuinely insightful and informed evidence.

Over the last few years at Qa Research, we’ve seen the positive response amongst our clients and we’ve seen the importance and value of research grow significantly. And here are three reasons why this has happened.

Reason 1: Taking local people with you

At a time when local authorities must make savings on a scale unprecedented in modern times, then changes to the way local services are delivered are inevitable.

In many cases these are real, tangible and sometimes dramatic changes that will be experienced by local residents. In some instances that could mean unhappy, even angry, people and this is made worse if residents feel they are excluded from the decision making process and unable to have any real influence.

The work we’ve done to understand how residents wish to be consulted highlights that above all else, they want to be treated as adults (assuming they are!).

People want to know the facts. Successful consultation acknowledges that residents are knowledgeable and rational, able to understand the challenges facing local authorities and to form balanced opinions as to how limited resources should be used.

People are very aware that their council faces major challenges. They know difficult decisions have to be made.

They want to have their say on the decisions that affect them. But more than that, they want their views to be heard and taken into account when decisions are taken.

Reason 2. Answering tough questions

So, who’s more vulnerable a young, single mum or an elderly widow? What should a local market provide, gourmet food for the discerning ‘foodie’ or low cost goods and services for those who’ve always relied on it?

How can services be delivered for two-thirds of last year’s budget?

Questions like these and many other equally challenging ones can be informed, or even answered in full, by well deisgned, ambituous and honest research – and we increasingly see local authorities prepared to tackle exactly these types of questions.

This is a change and a welcome one and we’ve seen really inspired, honest and exploratory research used to inform the following:

• Remodeling Children’s Centre provision
• Determining how to deliver leisure services to meet the needs of a geographically dispersed population
• Minimising the impact of council tax benefit reduction on the most vulnerable residents
• Redeveloping and relocating local markets
• Involving local people in the delivery of library services.

Reason 3. To demonstrate value for money

Our own experience of working with LAs throughout the UK in the last few years has demonstrated a fundamental shift in attitudes towards consultation.

Straitened times have focused local authorities towards commissioning research and consultation that is genuinely required, highly valued by end users and provides robust evidence to support tough decisions.

The days of the tick-box exercise have largely passed and we see Research and Consultation Officers more and more empowered and invigorated to explore options that challenge the old way of doing things to get the most from their research spend.

This means more challenging projects for agencies like Qa Research and we welcome it. The fruits of all our endeavours are now often highly prized by decision makers and we all benefit from this.

Looking to the future…

Residents understand that their councils are faced with making difficult decisions. They rightly expect that these decisions will be informed by sound data, the needs of their community and informed decision making.

This can’t take place without the expertise and dedication of local area researchers, whose work is essential to the future of local services and at the heart of local democracy itself.

(Photo credit: San Jose Library)

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• Michael Fountain is research director at Qa Research: michael.fountain@qaresearch.co.uk
• Find out more about Qa Research by visiting qaresearch.co.uk
• This post also appears on the Qa website here

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The latest Cities Outlook (January 2015) explores how cities have grown over the last 10 years and how policy has sought to support them.

Now in its eight year, Cities Outlook provides the authoritative economic index of the 64 largest cities and towns in the UK.

To explore the data behind the report, visit the data tool (beta).

Source: Centre for Cities

Photo credit: www.tecmark.co.uk

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• Session 1: Commissioning for outcomes in Leeds – CareTrak and Community Beds

Their presentation included a live demo of the system and was followed by a lively Q&A.

Next up was a focus on effective presentation and visualisation of data, inspired by the new LARIA Research Impact Awards category, ‘Most engaging presentation of local area research’. Malachi Rangecroft (Leeds City Council) introduced this session with a look at what data visualisation is, highlighted some good (and not so good…!) examples and shared a useful ‘aide memoire’:

• Session 2: Data visualisation – effective presentation of local area research (You may need to try a different browser if you have problems loading this)

We then broke into smaller groups for more detailed discussions around the examples people had brought along and some of the practical issues, challenges and successes locally. There was a real buzz in the room with lots of info sharing, including:

• Visual.ONS (see also blogpost on the launch of this site)
• 100 years of the census
• Information is Beautiful
• The Guardian – data visualisation examples
• The Guardian – worst ever infographic?
• Graphic Detail – charts, maps and infographics (The Economist)
• The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen (Hans Rosling TED Talk)
• Government Digital Service – Infographics Guide
• Norfolk Council JSNA infographics
• The Kings Fund quarterly monitoring reports
• Kirklees Council – Our Budget Challenge
• The data viz design process – 7 steps for beginners
• Is data visualisation just style over substance?

Finally, we spent the last session discussing ideas for how we could support the first LARIA Local Area Research fortnight (16-29 March 2015):

• Session 3: Local Area Research Fortnight
• Feedback from group discussions

I’m hoping that colleagues across our region will be able to play a part – however big or small – in helping to raise the profile of local area research, its value and its impact.

Once again, we’ve had really positive feedback about the Y&H event – people have found the sessions useful and there certainly seems to be the appetite to keep going. I’ll keep you posted about future dates, and if anyone would like to share something, either at an event or via the website, then please do let me know!

Alison Monkhouse – Kirklees Council, LARIA Y&H Co-Ordinator

(Photo Credit: The Carriageworks, Leeds)

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This new report from IPPR North, marking 10 years since their launch, highlights the most important trends in the north of England over the last decade.

Looking at economic growth and productivity, investment, public services and welfare, housing, demographics and political attitudes, it gives an overview of the North’s successes, challenges and future prospects.

While the north of England continues to face a number of challenges, there are also reasons for optimism. Whilst some of the challenges faced by the North have been deepened by recession and spending cuts, there is a strong sense they can be overcome if the right approaches to policy and subnational governance are adopted.

It is also proposed that annual State of the North reports are produced over the next decade. These will reflect less on longer-term trends and more on the changes and challenges happening on a yearly basis, and continue to present analysis and policy proposals driven by an evidence base.

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As well as providing an opportunity for people to meet others working in research and intelligence across our region, we had three great sessions – including some of the ‘best bits’ from the LARIA conference earlier this year.

First up was Tracey Robbins from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation with a lively and inspiring session about taking a neighbourhood approach to loneliness. We heard about their action research programme (based in York and Bradford) and the findings of the evaluation (by Qa Research) before working together to talk about what we can all do, both professionally and personally, to help tackle loneliness. (Presentation available on request).

Gillian Barley talked to us about their work in the East Riding of Yorkshire exploring the role of leisure centres in contributing to health and wellbeing outcomes. Lots of learning shared here and it was good to hear how research has really played a role in understanding customer experiences to help stimulate behaviour change:

• Evaluating the leisure centre’s contribution to outcomes

We also heard from Lisa Lennon and Peter Roderick from Leeds City Council about re-assessing the focus of their Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and developing a new approach to understanding both needs and assets, before breaking into small groups to discuss ideas, challenges and what works:

• Understanding needs and assets

Feedback from the afternoon was that people found it useful and we’ve already had a couple of offers from colleagues to host the next event – so watch this space for details!

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Both the Summer and Autumn 2013 NCS programmes were found to have statistically significant positive impacts on the four outcome areas explored in the evaluation:

• social mixing
• transition to adulthood
• teamwork, communication and leadership
• community involvement

Cost benefit analysis also suggests NCS has delivered greater social benefits than the costs involved.

You can download the full report here.

Photo credit: The Secret Garden NCS Project by wheelzwheeler

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If you attended the 2014 LARIA conference you might have been at the workshop session run by Tracey Robbins (Joseph Rowntree Foundation) and Angela Browne (Qa Research) on neighbourhood approaches to loneliness. This guest blog from Tracey Robbins marks the publication of the programme evaluation findings today.

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A grass roots approach can make a massive difference to local people experiencing, or at risk of, loneliness, says Julie Wrigley of Qa Research.

My colleagues and I have spent a lot of time over the past two years talking and thinking about loneliness. We found that a grass roots approach really can make a massive difference to local people experiencing, or at risk of, loneliness.

JRF and JRHT’s three-year action research programme, Neighbourhood approaches to loneliness, explored ways of reducing loneliness. It aimed to get people to talk about loneliness, what caused this, and what solutions they might identify and implement. The programme took a participatory approach, engaging community researchers in four varying neighbourhoods in York and Bradford.

While researching our independent evaluation of the programme, it was clear that loneliness touches people of all ages and backgrounds and so many were inspired to join in with the programme – whether by adding their thoughts and comments to researchers, or by becoming community researchers themselves. The programme was able to attract many people who may not usually feel confident to volunteer.

The community researchers have relished the opportunity to make a difference in their communities. They have felt proud and inspired. What’s more, several have made tangible achievements, by starting new training, going to university or getting a new job. Confidence levels, enthusiasm and self-reliance have soared through the roof. Many of the residents are now running preventative ‘loneliness solutions’ in their own communities – playgroups, pop-up cafes, walking groups and cultural markets.

Even the professionals who were involved report that they now have more insight into the effects of loneliness. They say they have changed behaviour in their personal lives to match.

The programme set out to discover whether a neighbourhood approach to loneliness could bring about meaningful change. It adapted to run differently in each of the four areas and there have been benefits for individuals and the wider community in each.

With 7,667 individual comments from almost 2,000 local people there is no shortage of powerful, often highly personal, messages emerging through the programme.

“Busy people can be lonely too.”

This quote came from a young man in an independent supported living scheme. His paid carer suggested that he was not lonely as he went out most days to activities. He said: “But busy people can be lonely too.”

As the programme manager, Tracey Robbins, said: “This hit home hard, not just for those being supported by paid carers but for us all ‘too busy’ to seek out the relationships we want or to look after those we have.”

“Home can be a lonely place.”

Another sad and startling quote that came out from the research.

“I am sure we all know someone, regardless of age, experiencing loneliness or at risk of becoming lonely,” says Tracey. “I am also sure we all can do something to reduce loneliness – our own or another’s.”

Read more about Neighbourhood approaches to loneliness and download our free resource pack.

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Tracey Robbins is the programme manager at JRF. Angela Browne and Julie Wrigley from Qa Research led on the programme evaluation.

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This year’s conference celebrated LARIA’s 40th year, and despite the challenges we undoubtedly face as local researchers there was a strong sense that we have an important role to play in the future of public services.

Highlights for me included the rousing keynote from LARIA’s Honorary President Martin Reeves (we need to focus!), a powerful piece on the problems with outcomes-based performance management from Toby Lowe, and hearing from East Riding of Yorkshire about their qualitative research with leisure centre users. Plus two great workshops – one on ethnography, another exploring the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s action research on neighbourhood approaches to loneliness. Alongside hearing from others, I also had the opportunity to share the Kirklees experience of It’s Time to Talk – a new conversation with communities. And as is often the case, I got as much out of some of the informal connections and conversations as I did from the main sessions.

So as I left a sunny University of Warwick my mind was, as it should be after any good conference, buzzing!

What did you think of LARIA 2014? If you attended you can also take part in the feedback survey

Alison Monkhouse, Corporate Research & Consultation Manager (Kirklees Council) and LARIA Regional Co-Ordinator for Yorkshire & the Humber

Photo: Gerallt Evans-Hughes

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