Policy Hub
Increasingly, authorities are being expected to develop policies and provide services that take account of the public's needs and wishes. Here, Alan Hedges, independent research consultant and a spokesperson for the Association for Qualitative Research, and Sue Duncan, Director - Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office, look at the social policy role of qualitative research, based mainly on group discussion techniques.
Government now recognises not only that the public dislikes being excluded from policy-making, but that things usually work better if people are involved in policy development. There is growing insistence that policy should be based where possible on evidence and not on assumption. A climate of rising expectations coupled with resource constraints has increased the need for effective and carefully targeted policies and has led local authorities and other public bodies to the gradual realisation that thorough research can assist with this.
In this environment it is clearly increasingly crucial that public bodies should understand their public. That means understanding in depth not only people's attitudes, beliefs and feelings, but also why they behave as they do. One point is becoming increasingly clear - policies do not work well if the public does not understand what is supposed to happen, and if the culture is pulling people in the opposite direction.
It is in the arena of public understanding that the impact of consultation on policy making is most keenly felt. As the policies of government departments and other public sector bodies often hinge on complex issues, the public often has a very incomplete understanding of what happens, and there are sometimes significant misconceptions - which may be important to clear up in sounding out opinion about future options. For example, a major policy initiative, such as the New Deal introduced in the late 1990s, raises issues about the values and behaviours that underpin the policy and about how such a major reform can be successfully implemented. The research programme involved an examination of the attitudes, knowledge and motivations of different types of jobseekers (bearing in mind that the situation of a 24-year-old lone parent woman is very different to that of a 40-year-old long-term unemployed man); and the barriers and triggers which determine whether and how someone will seek work.
Apart from the complexity of the issues, public bodies also have to grapple with the essential complexity of human beings, who have a great capacity for ambivalence and inconsistency. While there will be some topics on which members of the public have strong and considered views, there will be many more about which they need to reflect, learn about what options there might be, and feel their way to a conclusion. Qualitative research is good at dealing with such issues as it does not have to seek single answers to questions.
Moreover, it is unsatisfactory to base policy on 'knee-jerk' responses. People can express views on issues they do not know much about and have not thought through properly - but they would not necessarily like the outcome of policies based on such shallow foundations. The Modernising Government White Paper spoke about an 'outcome-focused culture' - only considered, informed and matured opinions are likely to provide a basis for the kind of long-term satisfaction this implies. Qualitative research facilitates high quality dialogue with the public, and can provide a sensitive tool for informing as well as collecting information. It can also give people space to deliberate on the issues under study, and to mature their opinions.
In order to seek these more considered views, there is a spectrum of models that public bodies can apply to the way they use research techniques. These include the following set out in the table below:-
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Model Behaviour
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There is scope for operating at all these levels, and the appropriate model will vary between policy fields. However, over time the focus has tended to move down the scale. The Modernising Government White Paper gave a further push in this direction when it said, 'Rather than imposing solutions we must consult and work with people.'
The past 25 years have witnessed a massive growth in qualitative research for the public sector, which has realised the value in harnessing the insight it provides for a range of purposes - developing, evaluating implementing and communicating policy.
The benefits of qualitative research in this context are many. It allows public bodies to understand a variety of complex matters. How is existing policy understood, perceived and experienced? How successful is it seen to be? What is thought to need improving or changing? It also provides insight into the values and goals of the target public, and their needs, concerns and problems. Additionally, qualitative research can help public bodies to understand which options for future policy people favour, and why, and also what are the likely barriers to successful policy implementation and the conditions necessary to its success.
Qualitative research can also help policy-makers to understand emergent policy issues - for example, statistical evidence may show a growth in claims for disability benefits, but it will rarely throw much light on why this is happening. Research can untangle what is going on - which greatly helps in formulating effective solutions. It can also get the public to look at alternative policy options, at different ways forward.
Equally, qualitative research can help to assist in monitoring and evaluating a new policy, although it is likely to be teamed with an element of quantitative research. The qualitative component has a particular role in evaluation because it can increase understanding - not only of what is happening, but also of why. The ultimate aim of evaluation is to assess whether a policy is achieving its objectives, both through its implementation and its content. A policy could fall at either of these hurdles and it is important to know which, because in the latter case it is the policy itself which needs to change, whereas in the former case it just needs to be differently executed.
As far as communications is concerned, qualitative research is particularly good at helping local authorities and public bodies to develop ways of communicating policy effectively. This can be important both for the proper functioning of the system and from the perspective of public accountability. Amongst the key issues which need to be considered are:
From examining progress to date, there is no doubt that qualitative research can play an important role in helping public bodies develop and implement effective policies. In a climate that demands increasing levels of public accountability its value should not go unrecognised by bodies needing and wanting to show a greater awareness of public needs and desires.
This article first featured in the July/August issue of Local Government News and we are grateful to the publishers of LGN for their permission to publish on Policy Hub.
This feature is based on a chapter from 'Qualitative Research in Context' published in conjunction with the Association for Qualitative Research (AQR).