Triangulating Novel Mixed-Method Educational Data to Develop Effective, Evidence-Based Policy

The UBDC’s Education and labour markets group has employed a spectrum of complementary quantitative and qualitative methods, often blurring the lines between, to address educational inequalities, with a view to informing the development of more effective policy solutions to the educational attainment gaps at all stages of life-long/life-wide education in Scotland and elsewhere.

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In this session, we used examples from the work of the UBDC’s Education work package to illustrate the impact of a range of the mixed-methods approaches, namely using:

• Novel data linkages
• Multivariate regression
• GIS mapping
• Searchable Twitter dashboards
• Lived experience interviews

Such approaches were demonstrated by using three projects which have already generated impact in academic, media and government policy domains:

• Integrated Multimedia City Data (iMCD) as applied to adult learning and greenspace in Learning Cities
• Open data to demonstrate educational inequalities during the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) exam moderation as linked to measures of deprivation
• Exploration of food insecurity of older adults in Scotland and effectiveness of food support services to tackled these inequalities

Resources:

Triangulating Novel Mixed-Method Educational Data to Develop Effective, Evidence-Based Policy

Additional materials from presentation - Wordcloud and Miro