Research units A-Z

Workstrand 1 works with our Policy partners in the Scottish Government, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Sheffield City Council to understand their policy systems and evidence needs.

This helps us to appreciate the various political priorities, goals and constraints, and how these develop over time in different organisations. Gaining an in-depth understanding of the political and organisational contexts and decision making processes, as well as the areas in which evidence is most urgently required, helps ensure that the rest of the work in SIPHER is as relevant and useful for our policy partners as possible.

Using a combination of qualitative methods, Workstrand 1 provides information on the landscape for each policy topic and works with our SIPHER embedded researchers to provide ongoing updates on the changing policy context.

The information that we generate includes analysis of:

• How SIPHER’s chosen policy topics are discussed (in written documents and in person);
• Key policy goals and indicators used to measure change;
• The processes that inform decision-making for our chosen policy topics;
• The role of evidence and evidence tools (such as reviews and models) in decision-making;
• The range of mechanisms that policy partners use to engage with the public and what priorities this work reveals; 
• How SIPHER outputs are perceived and used (or not) in policy settings, identifying opportunities for improving SIPHER’s policy impact.

The qualitative methods that we use to develop this understanding include interviews, observations, analysis of documents and complex systems mapping.

Interviews and regular meetings

The opportunity to explore each of our SIPHER topics in detail with key individuals working in that policy space. Regular meetings with our embedded researchers help us to identify participants who reflect the variety of relevant roles and activities within organisations. Key topics discussed include: how people talk about particular policy topics, the processes that inform decision-making, the role of evidence and evidence tools, and experiences of working across different policy areas.

Observations

Placements that our SIPHER Workstrand 1 academic researchers undertake in each partner organisation to gain insights into day-to-day working practices, with a view to capturing further information about processes of policy development.

These placements involve working closely with the embedded researchers, who also keep detailed notes of their own interactions with colleagues in a reflective diary.

Documentary Analysis

Key policy documents identified by the embedded researchers are analysed to:

• Explore the ways in which particular issues are framed in formal terms;
• Understand which policy options are being prioritised;
• Identify relevant targets and indicators of change; and,
• Examine how evidence and evidence-tools are cited.

Systems Mapping

Workshops (led in partnership with WS7) that bring together colleagues to map out the system for each policy topic. Each workshop will aim to deepen our understanding of how diverse factors and policy areas interact to shape work in a given policy area – for example, we know there are dependencies between housing policy, employment policy and health policy. The workshops will stimulate collective thinking and involve policy makers, analysts and scientific experts.

Workstrand 1 is supporting the whole SIPHER team to develop a detailed understanding of the policy landscape for inclusive economies, housing and public mental health in Sheffield, Greater Manchester and Scotland.

This work provides the foundation on which other SIPHER workstrands are built and includes:

• Workstrand 2 - insights into policy priorities within chosen topics (to inform evidence synthesis priorities and outputs) and an understanding of how the products of evidence synthesis are viewed and used in practice.

• Workstrand 3 - insights into the sources of data and evidence that policy partners are currently using, their perceptions of how good these data sources are, data and evidence gaps and needs, and key targets and indicators that they are prioritising.

• Workstrand 4 & Workstrand 5 - insights into how relevant policy systems are being thought about, how decision makers think about and use models, and how SIPHER modelling work is perceived and used (or not) by policy partners.

• Workstrand 6 - insights into how public preferences are perceived, what this is based on and how this informs decision-making, how policy partners view and use (or not) WS6 findings on public preferences, and decision makers’ own preferences.

• Workstrand 7  - a summary of the key people involved in each policy area, key performance indicators mentioned in interviews, decision making processes for each policy topic in Sheffield, Greater Manchester and Scotland, responses to and uses of the systems maps, and responses to and uses of SIPHER’s decision making tool.

• Workstrand 8 - insights into how policy colleagues use SIPHER’s data, findings and models to help their decision-making, and reflections on how different workstrands are interacting with policy partners.