Regeneration & Planning Further Analysis

Commissioning survey research is often seen as an expensive method of collecting information that may be of limited use beyond plugging gaps in existing data. However, original research can provide much more than this, having a direct impact on developing, even completely changing individual projects or programmes.

In work conducted by the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute with FUNK SRB (a round 2 partnership, whose main objective is tackling unemployment) the Institute conducted a range of research, including a large-scale interview survey with unemployed residents. One of the questions the initial analysis raised was whether within the local unemployed population as a whole there were identifiable "types" who faced similar situations. If these could be identified, their characteristics could then be reviewed as well as their past experiences, their aspirations and current needs, to help to tailor projects more directly for them.

The typology was quite straightforward, based on answers to four key questions in the survey, and splitting the population into four key groups. The "motivated" group are those who have looked for work in the past four weeks and want further training. The "not motivated" have not looked for work and do not want training. The "equipped" are those with formal qualifications, who have been unemployed for less than two years; again, the "not equipped" are the opposite. The four types cover 80% of the unemployed population.

From this analysis it became clear there is a dividing line in the population, in this case roughly splitting the population in two; a group facing a relatively high level of exclusion, either through not having the equipment or motivation to enter the job market, and a group much less excluded.

Looking further into the data helped highlight more features of this group. For example, looking at the barriers residents feel they face, it is clear that significant proportions of all unemployed people need a range of types of help — with childcare, qualifications, skills levels, jobsearch methods, how to present themselves, self-confidence etc.

However, it is also clear that particular "types" need different sorts of help. For example, the easier to reach group are more likely to need direct help with qualifications, skills and jobsearch activities, while the harder to reach need a more comprehensive and longer-term package that will cope with the other barriers they face, such as health problems and childcare needs.

The situations faced by these two groups prompted the SRB partnership to think further about their target audience. Focusing on the easy to reach group would make achieving their target "outputs" of getting a certain number of people into work easier — but perhaps this group are to a large extent already plugged into the networks of help that are available locally and there is little the SRB would be adding. Targeting the hard-to-reach may be beyond the SRB, with its limited resources.

So who should the SRB be trying to help? Is there a "middle group" motivated to find work, face relatively few barriers but are not making use of existing help? This has become the main aim of the current research — which will involve following up the c500 respondents from the initial survey to see what has happened to them in the intervening period. Who has found employment, what are their characteristics and what help, if any, have they received? Are the motivated and equipped groups more likely to have been "successful" — or are there other factors that are more important in determining success? The current stage of the research should shed some light on these questions — but will no doubt raise others.