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one such evaluation study – an evaluation of a Sure Start local programme. Our intention is to make explicit how professionals can operate in this difficult area. We first explore the nature of the evidence hoped for through both the local and the national evaluation of Sure Start, and this is followed by a discussion on what evidence was actually practicable to collect. The complexities Key words Sure Start • evaluation • complex community initiatives pr ac tic e© The Policy Press • 2008 • ISSN 1744 2648 Evidence & Policy • vol 4 • no 2 • 2008 • 255-68 EvP
relatively sophisticated in technical terms, allowing a range of search and display options. It is a potentially valuable source of foreign- language material, especially grey literature, within its subject range. Reference Gomersall, A. (2005) ‘Social policy and practice: a UK-focused database for social researchers and practitioners’, Evidence & Policy, vol 1, no 1, pp 122-5. 276 Evidence & Policy • vol 1 • no 2 • 2005 • 269–85 Sources and resources Understanding complex community initiatives: a review Kristin Liabo, Institute of Health Sciences, City University, London
specific groups or areas, Children’s Fund partnerships then had to decide what types of services or activities to put in place in order to respond to the risk of social exclusion faced by these children and young people. Experience of other complex community initiatives with broad social change objectives indicates that those responsible for developing and delivering programmes may be better at identifying the problems than they are at determining what the appropriate responses are (Connell and Kubisch, 1998). One factor that contributed to the growth of interest
realities of practice. Reassurance that evaluative critique is about exposing the limitations of policies, the inadequacy of resourcing, or the value of learning in order to do better, can be unconvincing when practitioners feel they are being exposed to criticism for failures either of process or outcome. But there are different ways of undertaking evaluations that can mitigate a sense of being judged. One such approach, designed initially to offer a way of evaluating complex community initiatives, is theories of change evaluation ( Connell et al, 1995 ). In this
viable. The idea of ‘theories of change’ was developed in the US as a way of testing whether ‘complex community initiatives’ could work, and has sometimes been used in the UK to plan and evaluate government initiatives. It can help to ensure visions are connected with reality (The Aspen Institute, 2003). The equivalent of a theory of change, whether or not you call it that, is needed for every town centre. It is necessary first, because there are few situations more complex than the evolution of a town centre, and second, because it is astonishingly common for
and intellectual functioning, and parental resistance to involvement in evaluation. The successful evaluation of the Circle of Parents initiative, involving weekly group meetings led by parents with a trained facilitator, is then described, with details of findings from evaluations in four states. Lhussier, M., Carr, S.M. and Robson, A. (2008) ‘The potential contribution of realistic evaluation to small-scale community interventions’, Community Practitioner, vol 81, no 9, pp 25–8. The challenges involved in evaluating small-scale but complex community
learning needed to tackle health inequalities, drawing on experience in Plymouth. The limitations of the ‘traditional’ approach to evaluation are examined, along with recent guidance from the Medical Research Council about evaluating complex community initiatives. The paper argues that the case for theory-based evaluation extends beyond criticism of the traditional approach to develop evaluation theory and practice from the perspective of critical realism. The paper concludes by reflecting on the politics of evaluation, calling into question the government’s commitment
the extension of the RCT and systematic review, it too is confounded by practical, political and theoretical problems. Often the theoretical base remains undeveloped and the result is a series of ad hoc initiative-specific reports rather than the accumulation of knowledge relating to a particular type of policy intervention. However, the refinement and utilisation of theory relating to complex community initiatives also remains in its infancy, particularly in terms of its ability to generate lessons for policy makers. A more pragmatic challenge, but one constantly
What are the implications of caring about the things we research? How does that affect how we research, who we research with and what we do with our results? Proposing what Tronto has called a ‘paradigm shift’ in research thinking, this book invites researchers across disciplines and fields of study to do research that thinks and acts with care.
The authors draw on their own and others’ experiences of researching, the troubles they encounter and the opportunities generated when research is approached as a caring practice. Care ethics provides a guide from starting out, designing and conducting projects, to thinking about research legacies. It offers a way in which research can help repair harms and promote justice.
Many policy and practice initiatives that aim to prevent social exclusion focus on children and young people. This book seeks to consider new approaches to understanding the complexities of prevention, and how these new understandings can inform policy and practice. The authors use evidence from the National Evaluation of the Children’s Fund to illustrate and explore the experiences of children and families who are most marginalised. They consider the historical context of approaches to child welfare, and present a new framework for understanding and developing preventative polices and practice within the context of social exclusion.
Preventative initiatives such as the Children’s Fund have supported large-scale complex evaluations that have generated rich and important data about strategies for addressing social exclusion and what they can achieve. The findings of this book have direct relevance for all those engaged in developing preventative policy and practice and will therefore be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and students of child welfare and social policy more broadly, in providing a timely discussion of key debates in designing, delivering and commissioning preventative services.
