Government Social Research
A qualitative study exploring how couples make arrangements for parenting and financial division, following separation from a cohabiting relationship, including what legal advice they seek and what factors affect decision making.
More information available from Sohagini Shah.
31 October 2006 - City Futures Research Centre (Australia) publish Qualitative methods and the evaluation of community renewal programs in Australia: towards a national framework
The emergence of public housing estate renewal programs in Australia in the last decade has been one of the most prominent developments in social housing policy. These programs have undertaken a broad mix of renewal activity, from physical redevelopment , to community oriented initiatives. Yet while a number of evaluations of these programs have been undertaken, the development of evaluation methodology has lagged behind that of other countries.
26 October 2006 - DfES publish The wider benefits of learning.
Planning, housing and energy use: a review
The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) estimates that energy used in buildings accounts for almost 27 per cent of all energy related greenhouse gas emissions. In moving towards more sustainable urban forms the ability to model how different kinds of urban development might perform in terms of energy (and water) use will be a significant tool in enhancing sustainability.
24 October 2006 - Mathematica publish semimonthly update
Contents include Improving care for dual eligibles by integrating Medicare-Medicaid coverage; Youth intake of sugary drinks in school and fast-food settings; Annual profile of Food Stamp households; Los Angeles Healthy Kids Program.
19 October 2006 - Home Office publish:
The most widely perceived ASB problems were young people hanging around and rubbish or litter, just under a third of people regarded these a ‘very’ or ‘fairly big’ problem.
17 October 2006 - Scottish Executive publish The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006
The SIMD is the Executive's official tool for identifying small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across all of Scotland and is relevant to policies aimed at tackling the causes and effects of area based multiple deprivation. SIMD 2006 divides Scotland up into 6,505 small geographical areas (called 'data zones'), with a median population size of 769. These are ranked from 1 (most deprived) to 6505 (least deprived) using 37 indicators of deprivation across seven categories or domains: current income, employment, health, education, geographic access to services, housing and crime.
16 October 2006 - Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) publish 230: Anti-social Behaviour Intensive Family Support Projects
An evaluation of six pioneering projects which finds that intensive family support can turn around anti-social behaviour in eight out of 10 cases. This is a summary document of the two year evaluation which examines the impact of such projects in terms of costs and benefits, effectiveness and lessons for dissemination.
United States Office of Management and Budget
publish guidance on Statistical Programs and Standards including updated guidance on commissioning surveys.
10 October 2006 - The plural of anecdote is not ambien
Article in The Scientist - researchers are relying more on case reports and the media has no idea how to deal with these. A paradox is that huge controlled trials, meta-analyses, and reviews of the literature are ubiquitous, but the number of ‘case reports’, and journals comprised entirely of incidental "findings", is growing. Journal editors have been derelict in publishing bad research disguised as cases. Investigators who jumpstart their programs with case reports are like television producers. They aim at using the power of stories to make the claims and reap the rewards, but without doing the research. The victims are journalists, readers, and the patients and their families, who are exposed to uncontrolled experiments framed as good medicine. It is time for editors, journalists and regulators to clamp down on the "case study."
10 October 2006 - Mathematica publish semimonthly update
Contents include:
TANF at 10: a look at policies in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania; Medicare advantage: changes in the market in 2006; Two new briefs released on Special care for special kids: profile of those enrolled in commercial plans; Prescription drug costs for children in these plans; Beyond test scores: new brief looks at student competencies.
Draws on international and local experience to provide a preliminary cost-benefit analysis of existing and emerging alternatives for scholarly communication.
The main role of the Centre will be to strengthen the provision and utilisation of independent, high quality, relevant and robust research and analysis, aimed at developing the necessary evidence base with which to address the significant transport policy questions facing the UK.
9 October 2006 - Department for Transport (DfT) announce a new approach to funding highly innovative and wide ranging research into key long term transport issues
The new approach to research is expected to result in far greater advances than simply awarding funding to a single organisation. It will allow a small number of consortia, with wide ranging expertise, to work in collaboration to tackle some of the major transport challenges of the next decade. DfT invited Expressions of Interest to participate in academic/industry multidisciplinary research and innovation consortia. Closing Date for Expressions of Interest - 12:00pm Friday 3 November 2006.
The ESRC invites applications under the Survey Design and Measurement Initiative
Full proposals must be submitted to the ESRC by 4pm on Thursday 30 November
2006. Any enquiries relating to the initiative or to ESRC research funding
rules should be addressed to:
Siân Bourne
Direct dial: 01793 413164
Email: sian.bourne@esrc.ac.uk
6 October 2006 - Australian Bureau of Statistics publish Research and experimental development: government and private non-profit organisations, Australia: 2004-05
Statistics on expenditure and human resources, classified by socioeconomic objective, field of research, type of expenditure, type of activity, source of funds, type of employee and location of expenditure.
2 October 2006 - National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre / Australian National Council on Drugs publish Evidence-based answers to cannabis questions: a review of the literature
Cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia, with an estimated five million people aged 14 and above having tried the drug. Typically, people begin using cannabis in their late teens or early twenties; thereafter, use steadily decreases. While most cannabis use is experimental or intermittent, it has been estimated that around one in ten people who try cannabis become dependent on it.