Investigating how research impacts on health policy: a review and proposal Helen Grealish: PhD year 2 Dr. Saoirse Nic Gabhainn: Supervisor

Introduction How research impacts on health policy in child and youth affairs – Drugs and Alcohol Focus groups and surveys (Petticrew et al., 2004: Whitehead et al., 2004: Hyder et al., 2011) Documentary analysis and in-depth semi-structured interviews (Hanney et al., 2003)

Aim and Objectives To identify the approaches and strategies employed in analysing policy documents Propose a framework

Background Qualitative methodology document analysis requires that data be examined and interpreted in order to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge (Corbin & Strauss, 2008 )

What is a document? Definition : “an instrument in language which has, as its origin, and for its deliberate and express purpose, to become the basis of, or to assist, the activities of an individual, an organization, or a community” (S. and B. Webb, 1932) “an artifact, which has as its central feature an inscribed text” (Scott, 1990) documents are ‘social facts’, which are produced, shared, and used in socially organised ways (Atkinson and Coffey,1997)

Why use documents ? Official documents available to the public Non-intrusive/ Ethical considerations – in the public domain Only data available (Mason, 1996) Non-reactive to researchers’ bias Limited detail or superficial accounts

Reasons for its decline as a method of social inquiry Studying the past rather than the present (McCulloch, 2004) Harold Lasswell – Elites ( Politics Who Gets What, When and How, 1936) Intellectual elites (Janowitz,1968) Boring and reclusive (record offices, attics and libraries) (McCulloch, 2004)

Assessing a document for research purposes Authenticity Credibility Representativeness Meaning literal interpretative (Scott, 1990) Global health actors no longer in favour of user fees: a documentary study (Robert and Riddle, 2013)

Quantitative content analysis “Quantify content in terms of predetermined categories and in a systematic and replicable manner” (Bryman, 2008) Counting the number of times an item or subject appears in the text - this is taken as a measure of its significance to it’s author (Scott, 1990)

Qualitative content analyses Content analysis – themes, patterns, categories are identified in the text – scientific methods i.e. grounded theory, phenomenological approach Context analysis – ethnographic Documents as commentary Documents as actors (Miller and Alvarado, 2005)

The use of evidence in public governmental reports on Health policy: an analysis of 17 Norwegian official reports (NOU) (Innvaer, 2009) Intelligent policy making? Key actors’ perspectives on the development and implementation of an early years’ initiative in Scotland’s public health arena (Deas et al., 2013) Industry use of evidence to Influence Alcohol Policy: (McCambridge et al., 2013) The significance of policy documents in municipal child Health Promotion (Guldbrandsson et al., 2008)

Framework Analysis Qualitative methodology Pre-designed sample A priori set of questions Ritchie and Liz Spencer (1994) (Ritchie, J. & Spencer, L in A.Bryman and R. G. Burgess [eds.] “Analyzing qualitative data”, 1994, pp )

Four broad categories 1. Contextual: to identify attitudes and behaviours to certain health practices 2. Diagnostic: to examine the barriers that stop people from seeking mental health treatment 3. Evaluative: appraising the effectiveness of what exists 4. Strategic: to identifying new ways of men from certain social groups to attend their GP more frequently (Ritchie, J. & Spencer, L in A.Bryman and R. G. Burgess [eds.] “Analyzing qualitative data”, 1994, pp )

5 Step Process Familiarisation Identifying Indexing Charting Mapping and interpretation

Key Features Dynamic process Systematic Easy retrieval of original textual material Within-case and between case analysis Accessible (Ritchie, J. & Spencer, L in A.Bryman and R. G. Burgess [eds.] “Analyzing qualitative data”, 1994, pp )

Summary This presentation looked at the different approaches and strategies taken to analysing documents and proposed the framework analysis method for use in this context. The key strength of this process is it is explicit and can be observed by researchers other than the primary researcher.

Thank you for listening