Partnership Action for Continuing Employment - partnership data sharing: project report

Appendix 2: Methodology

Our approach to the project involved an inception meeting with the project steering group, a literature review of relevant evidence, and a series of qualitative interactions and consultations with representatives from the partner organisations – both face-to-face, telephone and video. We consulted with partner representatives on two occasions, first to gather general views against the key objectives and then secondly, having collated the first round of feedback, to explore some issues and test key options and hypotheses in more detail. Our detailed methodology is set out below.

Inception Meeting

During this detailed discussion with the project steering group, we discussed the project background and reviewed the key objectives to ensure a shared understanding of what was most important. A discussion around the planned methodology allowed us to review and refine our approach before the project began. Following the inception meeting we produced a detailed action note together with a refined workplan.

Literature Review

Our initial background reading highlighted a number of reports and studies which were relevant to the project. On this basis we felt it was feasible and valuable to conduct a short literature review of the reports and studies found. This informed our understanding of the 'data sharing' issue and the design of our research tools (for partner interviews).

Stage 1: Initial interviews with key partners

Following the design and agreement of a topic guide (see Appendix 3), a series of face-to-face interviews took place between November 2019 and January 2020. All of the organisations we hoped to speak to were included, and in addition, we also spoke to Unite the Union (given their close working relationship with Scottish Union Learning, a PACE Partner).

Initial contact details for each delivery partner were provided by SDS and SG. Following liaison and discussions on what would be discussed in the interviews, most partners nominated one or two individuals to take part in the interviews. Overall, we spoke to 17 representatives from 13 different delivery partners. Typically, interviews lasted 45-60 minutes, though a small number took 75-90 minutes.

Stage 2: Follow-up interviews with key partners

Following an interim meeting with the project steering group, in Stage 2 a series of follow-up video/telephone calls were conducted with key partners using a second topic guide (see Appendix 4). Taking place in between May-July 2020, the video/telephone approach was particularly suitable in the light of the ever-unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. Mindful of the impact of COVID-19 on PACE Partners work, the interviews were purposefully delayed until the start of May 2020, allowing PACE Partners some time to deal with the initial impact of COVID-19 on their areas of work and to adjust to new working arrangements.

At the end of Stage 1 all partners were asked if they would be willing to contribute further to the project, with all responding positively to this request. In total, nine PACE Partners were successfully re-contacted, with interviews lasting 30-45 minutes.

Analysis and reporting

A series of progress reports and meetings took place throughout the project, with an interim report provided in March 2020 and a final report in August 2020. In hindsight, interviewing timescales took longer than anticipated, and during Stage 2 we deliberately delayed interviewing until the initial impact of COVID-19 had been dealt with.

The qualitative data we have collected during interviews has been analysed using a thematic approach to identify the key themes and sub-themes to emerge from the feedback. This has been guided by our topic guides, and informed by internal and steering group meetings in advance of analysis and reporting.