Government Social Research
Welcome to the May GSR bulletin
Please use the links below to navigate to sections of interest to you.
Visit the New Research page for more recent items.
GSRweb key usage statistics for April 2006 (figures in brackets for April 2005)
Thank you for contributing to this ongoing success.
Fiona Neathey has been appointed new Head of Research and Evaluation at Acas - see GSRweb homepage for more news to follow.
DCA Research Unit, Volunteering Day - Greg Braun in DCA’s RU organised a volunteering day to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for members of the Strategy and Planning Directorate last month. An enjoyable, useful and tiring time was had by all who did turn up in crisp but fortunately dry weather. Research Unit led from the front in carrying out a number of tasks, most of which contributed to the construction of a raised bank alongside a pathway which would in due course be home to wild flowers. The significant expenditure of energy was offset by the conspicuous consumption of pizza, and in some cases beer, the latter of course only after the tools had been put away for the last time. If you would like to organise something similar for your work area, feel free to contact Greg at greg.braun@dca.gsi.gov.uk
Department for Communities and Local Government reorganisation of the Analytical Services Directorate has resulted in the creation of three multi-disciplinary divisions with researchers, statisticians and economists working alongside each other. They are also other researchers bedded out in policy units including Fire, Social Exclusion, Neighbourhood Renewal and Local Government.
MRS Research Excellence & Effectiveness Awards 2006 - Public
Policy/Social Research Effectiveness Award. Nominate yourself, a colleague
or your whole project team. The entry which best demonstrates the positive
impact of research on decision-making within the public policy and/or social
arena will be the winner. The deadline for Awards submissions is 5.00 pm
on 30 May 2006.
Application deadline for the first intake of the newly launched GSR Fast Stream in-service programme is noon on Friday 19 May.
“The In-Service Fast Stream, for the first time, provides a dedicated route for social researchers to reach the highest levels of responsibility in the Civil Service - an opportunity long enjoyed by other groups of analysts in government.” Sue Duncan, Chief Government Social Researcher.
If you need more information you can get it here.
If you're ready to apply you can download an application form.
Government Social Research (GSR) In-Service Fast Stream Launch
MSc in Policy Analysis and Evaluation: 2006 - Applications are now being taken for the 2006 Masters programme in Policy Analysis and Evaluation for government social researchers. This aligns with the current performance and development reviews. Applications will close on 1 September 2006 for entry in October 2006.
The MSc is run jointly by GSRU and the Institute of Education
Call for papers - deadline 30 May 2006 - Challenging myths: researching reality - the role of social research - Social Research Association: Annual Conference 6 December 2006
17 - 20 July 2006: ESRC Research Methods Festival at St. Catherine's College, Oxford - The Festival aims to engage social scientists across a wide range of disciplines and at different points in their research careers.
The Legal Services Research Centre at the Legal Services Commission - fifth international conference at Queen’s University Belfast - Conference report
Going for Gold - seminar for new recruits to social research in the Scottish Executive - seminar report
DCA Research Unit will shortly commission an important study into the area of domestic violence (Evaluation of the measures to support victims of domestic violence in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004) (DVCV) and the Croydon Integrated Domestic Violence Court Service (IDVC)). The research will be tasked with evaluating the strategy within both the DVCV Act and the Croydon IDVC of more closely integrating the civil and criminal justice systems to enhance the protection and safety of domestic violence victims and their children. It is hoped the study will provide recommendations for policy in relation to implementing the new measures in domestic violence cases. The study is due to report in Autumn 2007. Details: Kim.williams@dca.gsi.gov.uk
Scottish Executive New Projects: Expressions of Interest invited
Scottish Executive wishes to commission an appraisal of the options for meeting the needs for longitudinal data on young people in Scotland, in particular in relation to their post-school transitions. Deadline 26 May 2006
Evaluation Methods - an affiliated project of the National Centre for Research Methods. Deadline for receipt of applications is 4:00pm on 13 June 2006
The International Journal of Social Research Methodology publishes a paper (A user perspective on research quality*) by Sue Duncan and Anne Harrop which says that, if we are to encourage the use of research evidence in policy and practice, our notion of research quality must go wider than the robustness of the research itself. We need to address both internal and external validity. Therefore, ‘evidence-based policy and practice’ has a simple logic which belies the complexity of the relationship. It is both a difficult and challenging one, which demands change in culture and practice on both sides in order to achieve its potential. There are many examples of the positive contribution that research, and researchers themselves, can make and some positive evidence that barriers are being addressed. The authors argue for a continued effort on both sides, so that the contribution that research can make to policy and practice can be fully realised.
* Int. J. Social Research Methodology Vol. 9, No. 2, April 2006, pp. 159-174
The Royal Society has published Science and the public interest: communicating the results of new scientific research to the public which says that scientists should consider the public interest when deciding whether, when and how to communicate their research results.
The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods April news letter has now been issued.
Microsoft launches Google Scholar rival - article in The Scientist which describes it as a beta version of a tool called Windows Live Academic Search, which will index peer-reviewed subscription content from a range of publishers, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Blackwell Publishing, Elsevier, Nature Publishing Group, the British Library, and John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Will EU beat UK in open access? - article in The Scientist says that an EU report has urged funders to guarantee open access to research, but there's still no RCUK policy in sight. Click here for more details.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) release 2 local crime datasets on Neighbourhood Statistics:
Local Crime Data (Selected Offences): Information from Individual Police
Forces, 2003/2004
Local Crime Data (Selected Offences): Information from Crime Partnerships,
2003/2004
National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in Australia launch Research messages 2005 - a collection of summaries on all research projects published or completed by NCVER in 2005.
The Strategy Economics and Mobility Unit consists of a number of teams within the department's Strategy and Delivery Group. The expertise and evidence collected by the unit is used to inform teams in other areas.
Home Office RDS announce publication of the following:
The Employment Market Analysis and Research (EMAR) branch of the Department of Trade and Industry - publications during April:
These reports are all part of the Employment Relations Research Series and can be found at:
Mathematica publish semi-monthly update on new publications, presentations, and other developments. Contents include: Design and measurement options to assess Head Start quality; Mom's mental health woes can pass to kids; Unsafe neighborhoods - obese Moms linked; Obesity prevention may need to start in infancy; Job Retention pilot tests in the UK; Survey Methods update - Medicaid Home and Community Based Waiver Program.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) publish The persistence of poverty across generations: a view from two British cohorts. This report explores the strength of the link between childhood poverty and poverty later in life, and asks whether this link has grown stronger or weaker in recent decades. Using information on the incomes of two British cohorts who were teenagers either in the 1970s or in the 1980s, it asks:
How far do the effects of early disadvantage continue to be felt as individuals reach middle age?
The American Institutes for Research (AIR) publishes a first-ever scientifically based review (CSRQ Center report on Education Service Providers) providing comparative ratings on the effectiveness and quality of seven widely adopted education service providers that generally serve low-performing schools in low income areas.
The findings by AIR’s Comprehensive School Reform Quality ( CSRQ) Center, which reviewed all publicly available research and information on each model, found that despite their popularity, there is only limited scientific evidence of their effectiveness. Six of the models are for-profit entities, while one - Imagine Schools - changed its status to nonprofit during the review. The report concludes that only one model - Edison Schools - currently has a solid body of evidence of its efficacy.
Australia & New Zealand Health Policy publish Measuring social capital in a known disadvantaged urban community: health policy implications which finds that Measuring social capital on a population level is complex and the use of epidemiologically-based population surveys does not produce overly valuable results.
Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) publishes briefing paper (Obesity, diet and exercise) which examines obesity and the dietary and exercise habits of members of the 1958, 1970 and Millennium cohorts.
The Question Bank - "a resource for the UK social science community covering issues about professional social survey data collection; social measurement using surveys; and information about design of survey questionnaires." [flyer]
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.
Have a good month.
Copy deadline for next bulletin is 12 June 2006.