Government Social Research
Welcome to the latest GSR bulletin.
DfES announce a systematic research review on the impact of networks on pupils, practitioners and organisations, which has been undertaken by the Networked Learning Group of NCSL and the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE). A paper about the review was presented by the reviewers at the recent International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement conference. The full report will be published shortly on the NCSL website
The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) in Canada publish Evaluating search and matching models using experimental data
Update from Sue Duncan - The Government Social Research Unit (GSRU) is on track to transfer from the Cabinet Office to the Treasury on 6 March 2006, as announced by the Prime Minister last November as part of machinery of government changes to help strengthen links between government analysts.
GSR members can check new GSRU contact details on the GSR Staff Directory after we move from Cabinet Office to HM Treasury on 6 March.
Please use the links below to navigate to sections of interest to you.
Visit the New Research page for more recent items.
GSRweb usage continues upwards, with record numbers of Visits and Page impressions in January. Thank you for contributing to this ongoing success. Key usage statistics for January 2006 (figures in brackets for January 2005):
GSR New Recruits Conference, 9-10 February 2006 Report by Fiona Timpson and colleagues on the Conference, held in the historic city of Bath at the beginning of February with fifty new recruits from across GSR.
Scottish Executive Social Researchers become qualified criminal para-legal practitioners
GSR Fast Stream In-Service The new GSR Fast Stream In-Service scheme will be launched during March. The scheme will provide a new opportunity for existing government social researchers to develop themselves in preparation for the highest levels of responsibility in the civil service.
GSRU will be holding an event at the end of March to launch the scheme. Look out for a special March bulletin for more information and an invitation to attend. If you would like more information in the meantime please contact Rebecca.laffineur@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
MSc in Policy Analysis and Evaluation: 2006 programme announced GSRU and the Institute of Education have announced details of the 2006 Masters programme for government social researchers in Policy Analysis and Evaluation. The application window will run from the beginning of April - to align with performance and development reviews - to 1st September 2006 for entry in October 2006.
Ethics - issues, procedures and practice (2 days) - 27-28 April 2006 This two day course has been designed by Professor Roger Jowell specifically for Government Social Researchers and other analysts working within government, on the ethical issues involved in conducting, comissioning and managing social research. The first day will focus on the ethical issues government analysts encounter in their work. The focus of the second day will be on managing ethical risk and will help ensure all social researchers, and especially departmental ethical sponsors, are informed about the procedures and measures that can be used to ensure ethical research practices.
Joint ESRC and Departmental Collaborative Postgraduate Studentship Competition
Scientist article calling for a revolution in the ethics of research
Launch of Generation Scotland, an ambitious and ground-breaking project looking at the ways genetic and lifestyle factors cause cancer, heart disease and mental illness
Is peer review broken? Article by Alison McCook in The Scientist says submissions are up, reviewers are overtaxed, and authors are lodging complaint after complaint about the process at top-tier journals and asks what's wrong with peer review?
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) publish Producing Australia’s welfare statistics (pdf) [AIHW website] - a paper by the Director, Richard Madden, which discusses the role of statistics in a democratic society, the values that have underpinned the AIHW’s work, and some of the issues that have arisen at AIHW over the past 10 years. He also describes the evolution of the Institute’s biennial report, Australia’s Welfare, since 1993.
Scottish Executive announce Starting points for research in school
Home Office announce a major cross-party review of how crime statistics are compiled and published, to increase public understanding of crime trends
Department of Health (DH) publish Best research for best health: a new national health research strategy [Department of Health website]
Scottish Executive publish Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey: calibration exercise: a comparison of survey methodologies [Scottish executive website] which compares fieldwork outcomes, sample profiles and victimization rates from 3,000 face to face interviews and 9,000 telephone interviews conducted across Scotland between June and September 2004. The report also looks at weighting options and proposes a method for calculating response rates from telephone surveys.
Market Research Society (MRS) announce publication of Conducting Research with Employees and Internet Research Guidelines [MRS website] and comments are invited by Tuesday 28 February.
MRS announce that the Research Buyer's Guide UK & Ireland and accompanying website are now fully updated for 2006 with over 700 entries. The Guide can be searched online at www.rbg.org.uk or for a printed Guide (£80 + p&p) - email: rbg@mrs.org.uk
MRS has published guidance on the Freedom of Information Act 2000 [MRS website], which they say is "essential reading for researchers working within the public sector or with public sector clients".
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at Kings College London publishes Criminal Justice Matters [CCJS website], their quarterly magazine that includes articles which query the independence of Home Office research and statistics.
ESRC publish Demographic review of the UK social sciences
The Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale and the Institut de la statistique du Québec publish a report on poverty and inequality (Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec)
Mathematica publish semi-monthly update [Mathematica website] Contents include: Disease management technology for seniors; Mathcurricula study to evaluate approaches to improve early learning ; two new reports describe State Partnership Initiative ; Design for teacher induction evaluation
Scottish Executive (SE) publish results of Stakeholder Survey 2005
Home Office announce publication of new research [Home Office website]
ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts on the Web is an indexing and abstracting tool covering health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Updated monthly, ASSIA provides a comprehensive source of social science and health information for the practical and academic professional.
ASSIA currently contains over 375,000 records from over 500 journals published in 16 different countries, including the UK and US.
Available at most GSR desktops - ask your departmental library for access details
Visit the Bulletin Archive to view the contents of previous Bulletins. While visiting, see the updated External events page for news of opportunities in 2006.
Be sure to visit the Vacancies pages for all current job ads.
Copy deadline for next bulletin is 13 March 2006.