33 research outputs found
Measuring the volume and value of the outputs of higher education institutions
One of the key issues facing the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council is how to assess the contribution made to Scotland's economy by Scotland's higher education sector. Higher Education's contribution to the economy and society at large is viewed as providing one of the most important justifications for government expenditure on higher education. However there is a paucity of robust quantitative evidence against which related resource allocation decisions aimed at encouraging economically valuable activity can be made. Taking higher education activity as a whole there has been no practical, valid, way to analyse the economic value of what universities do, or to compare the value thus created with that generated by other activities in the economy. The overall objective of this paper is to show how the development of a framework with comprehensive and detailed quantitative measures of the outputs of HEIs in both volume and value terms can enable a holistic analysis of higher education institutions' economic value. The present paper draws on initial case study research supported by the Nuffield Foundation which was further elaborated in two substantive reports to the Scottish Funding Council
IDEAS Private Sector Study of Maternal Newborn Child Health Data Sharing in Uttar Pradesh, India
IDEAS presented to the Uttar Pradesh Technical Support Unit (a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the work of the Uttar Pradesh health system) on 3 September 2014 on a study of how the private sector can share data with the public sector to help the public sector with resource planning:
Study overview
In support of TSUâs Objective 3a
⢠Sub-obj: Create robust systems for data collection, analysis, and planning to improve programme management (e.g.HMIS)
Utility of the findings
â˘To jointly develop and test a strategy for data sharing on key MNCH services with the private health sector in UP.
Aim of the present study
â˘To explore current data management and reporting systems for MNCH data in the private sector, and barriers and facilitators to obtaining private sector data and setting up such system
The Australian Research Quality Framework: A live experiment in capturing the social, economic, environmental, and cultural returns of publicly funded research
Copyright @ 2008 Wiley Periodicals Inc. This is the accepted version of the following article: Donovan, C. (2008), The Australian Research Quality Framework: A live experiment in capturing the social, economic, environmental, and cultural returns of publicly funded research. New Directions for Evaluation, 2008: 47â60, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ev.260/abstract.The author regards development of Australia's ill-fated Research Quality Framework (RQF) as a âlive experimentâ in determining the most appropriate approach to evaluating the extra-academic returns, or âimpact,â of a nation's publicly funded research. The RQF was at the forefront of an international movement toward richer qualitative, contextual approaches that aimed to gauge the wider economic, social, environmental, and cultural benefits of research. Its construction and implementation sent mixed messages and created confusion about what impact is, and how it is best measured, to the extent that this bold live experiment did not come to fruition
Development and evaluation of an intervention providing insight into the tobacco industry to prevent smoking uptake: a mixed-methods study
Background
Smokers who start smoking at an early age are less likely to quit and more likely to die from their habit. Evidence from the US TruthÂŽ campaign suggests that interventions focusing on tobacco industry practices and ethics may be effective in preventing smoking uptake.
Objectives
In an exploratory study, to develop, pilot and provide preliminary evidence of the acceptability and effectiveness of Operation Smoke Storm, a school-based intervention based on the premise of the TruthÂŽ campaign, to prevent smoking uptake.
Design
Mixed-methods, non-randomised controlled study. Component 1 was delivered to Year 7 students, and student focus groups and teacher interviews were conducted to refine the lessons and to develop components 2 and 3. The revised Year 7 lessons and accompanying family booklet were delivered to new Year 7 students 1 year later in one school only; Year 8 students in both schools received the booster session.
Setting and participants
Students in Years 7â8 (aged 11â13 years) in two UK schools.
Intervention
A three-component intervention comprising (1) three 50-minute classroom-based sessions in Year 7 in which students acted as secret agents to uncover industry practices through videos, quizzes, discussions and presentations; (2) an accompanying family booklet containing activities designed to stimulate discussions about smoking between parents and students; and (3) a 1-hour interactive classroom-based booster session for Year 8 students, in which students learnt about tobacco marketing strategies from the perspectives of an industry executive, a marketing company and a health campaigner.
Main outcome measures
Odds ratios to compare the self-reported prevalence of ever smoking and susceptibility to smoking in Year 8 students after the delivery of the booster session in study schools compared with students in local control schools. Qualitative data on acceptability of the intervention.
Results
The combined prevalence of ever smoking and susceptibility increased from 18.2% in Year 7 to 33.8% in Year 8. After adjusting for confounders there was no significant difference in the odds of a Year 8 student in an intervention school being an ever smoker or susceptible never smoker compared with controls [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83 to 1.97; pâ=â0.263] and no significant difference in the odds of ever smoking (aOR 0.82, 95% CI 0.42 to 1.58; pâ=â0.549). Students mostly enjoyed the intervention and acquired new knowledge that appeared to strengthen their aversion to smoking. Teachers liked the âoff-the-shelfâ nature of the resource, although they highlighted differences by academic ability in the extent to which students understood the messages being presented. Use of the family component was low but it was received positively by those parents who did engage with it.
Limitations
Logistical difficulties meant that studentsâ responses in Year 7 and Year 8 could not be linked; however, baseline smoking behaviours differed little between intervention and control schools, and analyses were adjusted for confounders measured at follow-up.
Conclusions
Operation Smoke Storm is an acceptable resource for delivering smoking-prevention education but it does not appear to have reduced smoking and susceptibility.
Future work
The lack of a strong signal for potential effectiveness, considered alongside logistical difficulties in recruiting and working with schools, suggests that a fully powered cluster randomised trial of the intervention is not warranted
Evaluative tools in impact investing: Three case studies on the use of theories of change
Models of Care for musculoskeletal pain conditions: Driving change to improve outcomes
No abstract available