Conversation starter tool: Using data from basic research
The idea of 'research' can put some people off, either because they don't think they're smart or 'academic enough' to do it, or because they think there's a bunch of hassle re getting research signed off for ethics etc, or because they think it will take up a bunch of time they don't have.
none of these have to be true, and if a Frontline Practice Leader is truly interested in deepening their understand of what's gong on, then basic research is important, and easier than you think. and when you gather useful data, it creates a great opportunity for conversation in your organisation. For example, "this is what our customers said when we asked them what makes a good support worker; what do you think about what they said, and how can we get better at what we do?".
To get you started, here are some pointers.
Decide what you want to know
It is really important that your research is focused on a question you want to answer. So decide what you want to know, and then your research design will have an anchor point and it will give you a focus for deciding how you run the research. Possible questions could include:
- what do our customers think makes a good support worker?
- what do our staff want most from our organisation, to do their job as well as they can?
- which service providers have the best reputations for person-centred practice, and can we import their ideas?
- what are the best ways to measure if we are having a positive impact in peope's lives?
These are just examples, and there is a near infinity of research design questions you could come up with. So just decide what you want to know, frame it as a question, and you have yourself a research design question :)
Understand the main ethical issues, so that people can choose whether they get involved or not
Research ethics is a complex topic. If you really want to climb into whys and wherefores, you can try starting here.
However, we will assume that the main type of research you want to do is to ask people what they think or to observe what people do. If so, the main research ethics risks are that you mislead a person about what the research is for, which for example could leave that person feeling deceived, anxious and used, or that you breach a person's privacy.
A way to minimise these types of risk is to be really clear about what you want to know and how you will use the information, and that you explain this clearly to the person you want to be involved. It is important the person understands they don't have to be involved if they don't want to, that they can withdraw at any time, that it won't affect the supports they receive from your organisation, and that any information they give won't be used in any way that can identify them, and will only be used for the purpose of this research, so that our organisation can find ways to be better.
The data set does not have to be huge
Don't fall into the trap of thinking you will have to speak to a lot of people and gather a lot of data. Just one person's story can reveal insights that can help get a conversation started in the organisation about how to do things better. At least one UK commentator has suggested that the entire 'self-directed support' movement in the UK was fueled by the stories of just 30 families.
Keep it Simple
If you're asking people what they think, keep the questions simple and easy to measure. That way you are less likely to tie yourself up with complex statistical analysis. You can ask questions that produce qualitative answers, where the answers involve people giving you words that you then analyse (eg tell me three things you think are important in a good support worker); for these you can look for themes, where the same ideas keep popping uo in different people's answers. you can also use devices like word clouds, that can help identify the frequency of words that people use. Try this link for more about word clouds.
You can also ask questions that produce quantitative answers, where the answers give you numbers you can then analyse. This can include ranklngs (eg rank the following ideas in order of their importance to you) and ratings (on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is the best score possible, how important is it to you that a support worker shows up on time).
Keep the survey/interview/ whatever relatively short. Better to run shorter surveys frequently, than run a large scale survey one time.
Find ways to build research into all your work
feedback from an organisation's customers (and staff) is key to quality improvement. The more an organisation talks regularly with its customers and staff about how things are going, the more likely that organisation is to learn and grow from its experiences.