Monday, March 3, 2008

[EQ] In the know: using information to make better decisions

In the know: using information to make better decisions - A discussion paper

 

Audit Commission for local authorities and the National Health Service in England

February 2008 -  London UK

 

Available online as PDF file [52p.] at:
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/Products/NATIONAL-REPORT/77C7B4DB-0C48-4038-A93F-DFE3E645A26E/In%20the%20know_report.pdf

 

“….This paper is not quite the same as other Audit Commission studies.

1. Instead of analyzing issues and presenting solutions, this paper aims to encourage people to think about the information they use whenever they make decisions. And because people have different roles, different skills and different backgrounds, there is no one approach that suits every situation.

 

2. The core argument is simple: the quality and cost of our public services depend upon the decisions that many, many people make. The public, professionals, managers and politicians all make decisions that affect public services. If they could all make better use of information about those services in decision making, the services themselves would improve.

 

3. This paper has many examples of how information has been used in improving public services, including reducing fly-posting by 90 per cent, reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training and increasing library membership by 58 per cent.


4. There are many examples in the private sector where companies have developed a competitive edge by exploiting information. For example, Tesco has tracked the shopping habits of up to 13 million British families for more than a decade through its Clubcard, making good use of a lot of data on customers and their behaviour

5. This simple argument is widely recognised in government and elsewhere. For example, the 2006 Local Government White Paper (Ref. 2) said that the new performance regime would provide: ‘clear information – for citizens, local authorities, partners and Government – about delivery in an area, including comparability with performance in other areas.’

 

6. But this simple argument hides a complex truth: the information available when a decision is made will never be as relevant, complete, accurate or timely as might be desired, and those who make decisions are often ill-equipped to draw appropriate conclusions from whatever is available. As a result, information can often mislead decision makers, and centrally driven demands for performance information can have unintended, negative consequences at a local level….”

 

Content:

Summary

Checklist

1. Introduction for managers of public services

2. Better information, better decisions, better performance

3. Decisions, decisions

4. Information, information, information: relevance, quality and presentation

5. Only the start

Appendix 1: Definitions

Appendix 2: Examples of good use of information by the private sector

Appendix 3: References

Appendix 4: Methodology

 

 

 *      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is".Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

[EQ] Conference: What's the Use of Race

Conference: What’s the Use of Race?

 

April 25-26, 2008 - MIT Faculty Club

Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology, and Medicine
Massachusetts Institute of Technology- MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts

 

            Website: http://web.mit.edu/csd/WUR/Program.html

 

“…..Race continues to thrive as a category of analysis among state and federal institutions and in medical, scientific, and social research.  

Despite concerns that race is a hollow and misleading concept, studies of race have produced overwhelming documentation of inequalities from birth to education, income, crime, punishment, disease, treatment, and death.  Can race and ethnicity be objects of analysis and targets of policy, to alleviate inequalities, without causing harm by reifying invidious distinctions?  This conference probes these quandaries by bringing together researchers and journal editors in medicine, science, law, and social science to explore the competing interests that make studies of race both feared and desired….”

 

The conference is free and open to the public.  Pre-registration is requested. 
Please email your name and affiliation to Ian Whitmarsh at whitmars@mit.edu  

 

            Related Publications:

 

Racial Categories in Medicine: A Failure of Evidence-Based Practice?

George T. H. Ellison*, Andrew Smart, Richard Tutton, Simon M. Outram, Richard Ashcroft, Paul Martin

http://web.mit.edu/csd/WUR/Publications_files/Ellison%20et%20al,%20Racial%20Categories,%20PLoS%202007.pdf

PLoS Medicine- September 2007 | Volume 4 | Issue 9 | e287

 

 

Racial Categories in Medical Practice: How Useful Are They?

Lundy Braun, Anne Fausto-Sterling*, Duana Fullwiley, Evelynn M. Hammonds, Alondra Nelson, William Quivers,

            Susan M. Reverby, Alexandra E. Shields

http://web.mit.edu/csd/WUR/Publications_files/Braun%20et%20al,%20Race%20and%20Medicine,%20PLoS%202007.pdf

PLoS Medicine - September 2007 | Volume 4 | Issue 9 | e271

 

 

 

 

 

 *      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is".Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

[EQ] Are You Being Served? New Tools for Measuring Service Delivery

Are You Being Served? New Tools for Measuring Service Delivery

 

Edited by Samia Amin, Jishnu Das, Markus Goldstein

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank

Washington DC  - 2008

 

Available online as PDF file [454p.] at:
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2008/02/15/000333038_20080215064605/Rendered/PDF/424820PUB0ISBN1LIC0disclosed0Feb131.pdf

 

“…..This volume provides an overview of a range of tools for measuring service delivery and offers valuable lessons on the opportunities and constraints practitioners face in measuring performance. The authors investigate country cases using data from a range of sources in a variety of contexts. Their experiences yield important insights on how to avoid pitfalls, what practices to improve, and how to learn the most from the data at hand.

 

Taken together, those lessons represent an important step in strengthening accountability and governance so as to enhance service delivery. Empirical investigations of the relationship between particular characteristics of the public provisioning of goods and services at the local level and the characteristics of the localities receiving these goods and services may help us understand the impact of policy and learn to design more effective public interventions.

 

Monitoring data are an integral part of the process of learning about the performance of any social program. Many impact evaluations of social programs assume that the interventions occur at specified launch dates and produce equal and constant changes in conditions among eligible beneficiary groups…. ‘

 

Impact evaluation assesses the changes in the well-being of individuals that can be attributed to a particular project, program or policy.

 

 

 

 *      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is".Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.