Government Social Research
30 August 2005 - Call for Abstracts: International Conference on Child Cohort Studies
Deadline for the submission of abstracts is Friday 14 October 2005.
25 August 2005 - Publication of a systematic review of effective strategies to widen adult participation in learning
By the EPPI-Centre Post-Compulsory review group.
25 August 2005 - Publication by Department for Education and Skills of Birth to School Study: A longitudinal evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership 1998-2005
Presents the findings of the Birth to School Study. It concludes with the policy implications of the research, and makes recommendations for further areas of study in order to continue to build an evidence base for policy and practice in the field.
24 August 2005 - Conference details
The conference for Government Social Researchers, 'Professional Skills for Government: Competencies to deliver high quality social science research', is taking place in London from the 3-5 October at the Tower Thistle Hotel.
24 August 2005 - NCRM-Government Social Research Seminar Series 2005 - June 2006: current and new trends in policy analysis and evaluation
The seminar series aims to inform government social researchers and other analyst of new methodological developments relevant to the analysis and evaluation of government policies and programmes. The series also includes seminars on the promotion of evidenced based policy and practice. Policy officials and ESRC students are welcome to attend.
22 August 2005 - Publication of semimonthly update from Mathematica
New publications, presentations, and other developments.
12 August 2005 - Department for Work and Pensions publication of Taking Part in a Randomised Control Trial
A participant's eye-view of the Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilot - presents findings on the characteristics and experiences of participants in a randomised control trial, the Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilot.
9 August 2005 - Karen Dunnell appointed National Statistician
The Prime Minister, with the agreement of the Chancellor of Exchequer, has approved the appointment of Karen Dunnell as National Statistician and Director of the Office for National Statistics from 1 September. Len Cook is to return to New Zealand.
4 August 2005 - Publication of sixth Annual and Technical Reports of the Scottish Household Survey (SHS)
The Annual Report outlines the main findings from 30,822 interviews carried out in 2003 and 2004, providing detailed information about people living in Scotland today. The report provides data at both national and the 32 local authority levels.
The survey provides accurate, representative and up-to-date information on the characteristics, composition and behaviour of Scottish households in a number of key policy areas, particularly relating to transport, social justice and housing.
4 August 2005 - New seminar series on policy analysis and evaluation
Government Social Research Unit and the ESRC Research Methods Programme are pleased to announce a new seminar series, commencing in September 2005, on current and new trends in policy analysis and evaluation.
Findings from Scottish School Leavers Survey
The survey is a longitudinal research study that examines young people's experiences and transitions from compulsory education (age 16) through to the age of 23-24, covering main activity, current qualifications, domestic circumstances, the disadvantaged and future aspirations. The current design of the survey 'tracks' young people with 4 survey sweeps per cohort, at age 16-17, 18-19, 21-22 and 23-24. These publications consider young people from the penultimate sweep of Cohort 3, focusing on young people aged 22 in 2004, and the final sweep of Cohort 4 focussing on 24 year olds in 2004. The study is joint funded by the Education Department and Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department. The Research Summaries for these publications can be found at:
Public Attitudes to Participation
In conjunction with the research into civic participation in Scotland, MORI was commissioned to undertake a survey on public attitudes. It highlighted three broad trends:
Civic Participation in Public Policy-Making: A Literature Review
Since devolution there has been a steady increase in the involvement of individuals and groups from across Scottish civic society in Scottish Executive policy making. The Office of Chief Researcher recently commissioned work to take stock of current activity and to investigate key concerns when developing this important area. The work included a review which identified 273 activities contributing to 191 policy initiatives in 2004.