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

Research design and methods

It is anticipated that the project will have two distinct strands of activity.

• Strand 1: Developmental and set-up work. This strand aims 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 (Objective 1).
• Strand 2: Synthesis analysis. This strand aims to collate key developments and findings relating to system change policies (addressing Objectives 2 to 5). Strand 2 is reliant on information from evaluations in scope as they become available. Policies in the scope of this research are at varying stages of design and delivery.

Further details of what each strand entails can be seen below.

Strand 1 – Development and set-up work

This strand involves three key tasks:

1. Refining the scope and identifying and understanding the system-change initiatives in Best Start Bright Futures

2. Understanding what system-change initiatives are trying to achieve and how, and developing an overarching Theory of Change for system-change initiatives as a whole

3. Producing a common set of research questions relating to system change and supporting their use in individual initiative-level evaluations

This strand has already been completed over 2022-23. A separate publication summarises the approach and key findings, including an associated logic model.

Strand 2 – Synthesis analysis

The synthesis analysis aims to collate key findings to better understand system change. Specifically, it addresses Objectives 2 to 5. It will use the typology developed in Strand 1 to answer the key research questions set out above.

The scope of this strand, and the methods to be used, will vary depending on business need and how policies evolve. It is anticipated that, as a minimum, evidence and learning from published evaluation reports, as these become available, will be gathered and synthesised. Information will be supplemented with:

• Commissioned updates of evidence from analytical teams structured around the key research questions
• Interviews and workshops with Scottish Government policy and analytical colleagues
• Deep dives or case studies on particular issues of interest (this could include, for example, analysis of local data and reports, interviews/workshops with local partners, etc.)

This activity is dependent on information from evaluations being available in a timely way and of sufficient quality to address the research questions outlined above – which are ambitious in scope. The research questions and the timing of the analysis may need to be modified as evaluation outputs and timelines become clearer.

Strand 2 commenced in April 2023, with an interim report anticipated by the end of the year. Evidence will be drawn from:

• the implementation evaluation of No one Left Behind
• the interim evaluation report from Whole Family Wellbeing Fund
• early implementation findings from Child Poverty Pathfinders
• The evaluability assessment that is underway for the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy
• The evaluation strategy currently being developed on School Age Childcare, the Summer Holiday programme evaluation, and the review of access to childcare (to be published by end of 2023).
• Any new emerging learnings from the Empowering Communities Fund
• Findings from the evaluation of the Social Innovation Partnership programme.