Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26: Evaluation approach to system change

Research questions

The objectives for this broader piece of work are underpinned by a set of research questions which cover a variety of themes. For clarity, the research questions are outlined under their corresponding objective.

Objective 1) To identify and understand the range of approaches taken to system change and person-centred support in local child poverty systems through the initiatives committed to in Best Start, Bright Futures (with the option to include other relevant child poverty initiatives in Scotland).

Research questions:

• What are the range of approaches taken to system change / place-based work across the different initiatives in scope? What are their similarities and differences? Can distinct types of approach be identified?
• What system change outcomes are sought across these initiatives, how are these anticipated to impact on child poverty outcomes, and what are the range of actions planned to achieve these outcomes?
• Who are the intended beneficiaries and what is the intended scale or reach of the initiatives? To what extent are families in poverty and “priority families” the intended beneficiaries?
• How are approaches being evaluated or monitored? What are the key research questions being asked and methodologies employed?

Objective 2) To provide an understanding of issues experienced in the implementation of system change initiatives and distil key lessons which can be applied to other areas and to wider policy development.

Research questions:

• How successfully have different types of actions to achieve system change been implemented? What has been overall most/least successful in its implementation?
• What are the common enablers that have facilitated system change and the challenges that have been experienced (across sites), and what are the most effective ways that challenges have been overcome?
• What are the range of costs seen in the delivery of initiatives? (where data is available)
• What have been effective and ineffective ways of engaging intended beneficiaries? To what extent have priority families been engaged? Have any intended beneficiary groups not been reached and what are the reasons for this? How have groups facing disadvantage due to gender, race / ethnicity, disability or nationality / migration status been served by the interventions?
• What are the contextual factors that have influenced the success (or otherwise) of implementation?

Objective 3) To understand how initiatives have impacted on system change for delivery organisations, service users and wider partners and stakeholders.

Research questions:

• What are the range of system change impacts - both positive and negative, intended and unintended - experienced by a) service users, b) service providers and c) policy stakeholders (local and national)? Which of these are most important? Are there any tensions or trade-offs between the impacts for different groups?
• To what extent have system change impacts varied for different groups of beneficiaries (for example, priority family groups, depth of poverty, equality groups)?
• To what extent have system outcomes been achieved?
• How have system outcomes been achieved? What has prevented system outcomes from being achieved?

Objective 4) To understand which types of system change approach are effective, for whom, and in what contexts.

Research questions:

• What is the most appropriate way to assess whether system change approaches have been effective?
• Which types of system change approach are more effective / less effective in tackling child poverty? What are the range of contextual factors that influence this?

Objective 5) To assess the extent to which the approaches examined can (and, where measured, do) contribute towards child poverty reduction and the mechanisms by which this may occur.

Research questions:

• Where this has been measured, have any of the initiatives resulted in a reduction in child poverty?
• Where this has been measured, have any of the initiatives resulted in an impact on the child poverty drivers (i.e. increased income from employment or from benefits or reduced cost of living for families in poverty)?
• What are the pathways by which child poverty reductions could be achieved through system change initiatives and what are the main contextual factors that facilitate or hamper this?
• Where evidence is available, what were the main costs and benefits of initiatives and is there potential for a return on investment if initiatives were replicated or scaled?