This workshop was arranged with analysts from Fife Partnership for thirty staff from Fife Council and partners.
The following presentations were given by statisticians from Scottish Government and analysts from Fife Parternship:
Welcome and aims of the day
Summary of data issues that need considering
Measuring change and monitoring targets using sample survey data
(to see the version of this presentation that shows how to use the principles to select a sample size, and access the accompanying excel spreadsheet for choosing a sample size, see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/scotstat/analystsnetwork/SurveysEdinburgh)
Using administrative data
The National Performance Framework and Scotland Performs
Audit of Best Value
The Improving Local Indicators Project
Performance Indicators: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. A report of the Royal Statistical Society.
To see the RSS report, see: http://www.rss.org.uk/PDF/PerformanceMonitoring.pdf
Update:
The points of discussion from the afternoon session on performance monitoring in Fife have been combined with those from the second run of this workshop and are available here.
The following handout was provided:
Guidance on measuring change and monitoring targets
Feedback
Twenty-seven of the people who attended the workshop provided feedback by rating their agreement with the following statements:
"I found the group discussion about issues to consider when setting a target or monitoring change informative and useful".
17 people 'agreed' with this, 9 'strongly agreed' and 1 'neither agreed or disagreed'. Comments included "It was interesting to find out what others are doing and learn from them", "It was good to have an example to focus on - lots of animated discussion in our group", "useful exercise, stimulated the thought process and resulted in good discussion".
"I have an improved/refreshed awareness of the issues that need considering when measuring change or monitoring a target using data from a survey".
14 people 'agreed' with this, 12 'strongly agreed' and 1 'neither agreed or disagreed'. Comments included "Good, s ound information", "excellent and easily understandable explanation of confidence intervals", "real eye opener. I found this really interesting".
"I have an improved/refreshed awareness of the issues that need considering when measuring change or monitoring a target using data from an administrative system".
14 people 'agreed' with this, 12 'strongly agreed' and 1 'neither agreed or disagreed'. Comments included "Helped clarify and consolidate my understanding on this subject", "Well presented and infromative", "useful session to reinforce issues".
"I found the opportunity to discuss performance monitoring in Fife with colleagues useful".
18 people 'agreed' with this, 7 'strongly agreed' and 2 'neither agreed or disagreed'. Comments included "This was the most useful part of the day for me. Was good to share experiences, knowledge and ideas with employees in a similar role", "Put things in a practical context and emphasised the ened for statistical theory to be adhered to".