The grand view of do-it-yourself

Ways of helping policy makers to grasp research principles in their efforts to assemble a picture of the health and development of the children for whom they are responsible are described in a forthcoming Research Unit paper.

A few years ago the big test for social research was finding reliable ways to get new findings into practice; now worthwhile dissemination is much more a matter of giving grassroots practice command of its own routine research.

Similarly, robust sampling strategies used to be the preserve of scientists, but, increasingly, local authorities need to understand the methods in order to make evidence-informed decisions about the wellbeing of children.  

The principles of representativeness, sampling and user engagement are all discussed in Tim Hobbs's "Looking for a Grand View," which will be published shortly in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.