Antonia Simon

Pinpointing needles in giant haystacks: use of text mining to reduce impractical screening workload in extremely large scoping reviews

In scoping reviews, boundaries of relevant evidence may be initially fuzzy, with refined conceptual understanding of interventions and their proposed mechanisms of action an intended output of the scoping process rather than its starting point. Electronic searches are therefore sensitive, often retrieving very large record sets that are impractical to screen in their entirety. This paper describes methods for applying and evaluating the use of text mining (TM) technologies to reduce impractical screening workload in reviews, using examples of two extremely large-scale scoping reviews of public health evidence (choice architecture (CA) and economic environment (EE)). Electronic searches retrieved >800,000 (CA) and >1 million (EE) records. TM technologies were used to prioritise records for manual screening. TM performance was measured prospectively. TM reduced manual screening workload by 90% (CA) and 88% (EE) compared with conventional screening (absolute reductions of ≈430 000 (CA) and ≈378 000 (EE) records). This study expands an emerging corpus of empirical evidence for the use of TM to expedite study selection in reviews. By reducing screening workload to manageable levels, TM made it possible to assemble and configure large, complex evidence bases that crossed research discipline boundaries. These methods are transferable to other scoping and systematic reviews incorporating conceptual development or explanatory dimensions.

Evaluating school-based health services to inform future practice: Lessons from "Teen Talk" at Kidbrooke school in Greenwich

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the process and lessons learned from an evaluation of “Teen Talk”, a health drop in service at Kidbrooke, a state secondary school in Greenwich.Design/methodology/approach – A multi‐pronged approach was adopted for the evaluation. This included a questionnaire survey of a sample of 180 pupils within the school; in‐depth discussions with 12 young people who had used the service; interviews with health and education professionals and parents; desk research including an analysis of costs and discussions with senior staff in other schools in Greenwich to determine the feasibility of replicating the “Teen Talk” model elsewhere in the borough.Findings – “Teen Talk” is greatly valued by pupils and staff at the Kidbrooke and was seen to provide a unique service. The overall perception is that it provides good value for money. However, the evaluation identified important lessons in setting up and managing the project which can help refine the service and which hav...

Do Ethnic Groups Migrate Towards Areas of High Concentration of Their Own Group Within England and Wales

Patterns of ethnic migration and settlement are pertinent issues in today’s society. This chapter presents evidence from a recently completed ESRC-funded research study which examined the movement of different ethnic groups towards wards where their own ethnic group has a relatively high or low concentration at the ward level. The chapter provides an overview of the main theories and hypotheses concerning these trends both abroad and in Britain and contributes to current understandings of patterns of residential settlement for white and minority groups. The results challenge some assumptions about the migration of minority ethnic groups which supports recent evidence showing dispersal for ethnic groups from settlement areas at the district level. Analyses are presented for the whole of England and Wales and for London.

The Development of a United ECEC Workforce in New Zealand and England: A Long, Slow and Fitful Journey

A united child care and education workforce serving children under school age has many benefits but despite long held recognition of its advantages, progress towards this goal has been slow in many countries. This chapter traces policy trajectories towards, and away from, workforce integration in two countries, New Zealand and England, over the period 1986 – 2016. It takes three illustrative examples: workforce models, sector voices, and home-based ECEC, to document the complexities and tensions within integrationist shifts in early childhood education and care. New Zealand has made greater progress towards integration than England; nonetheless, sustaining unity is fragile.

Changing trends in young people’s food behaviour and wellbeing in England in relation to family affluence between 2005 and 2014

ABSTRACT Research shows that healthy eating improves outcomes for children and that inequalities in diet are socially determined. However, little is known about how associations between household income and the diet intake of children and young people change over time. Descriptive analysis was carried out using the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey data for England for the years 2005, 2009 and 2014 to examine how breakfast, fruit, vegetable and soft drink consumption compares for young people aged 11–15 years by family affluence (low versus medium/high), gender and wellbeing measures. The results show young people in the low FAS group generally reporting less healthy eating behaviours, and differences by gender such as more soft/sugary drink consumption and lower consumption of fruit and vegetables for boys. Young people in the low FAS group also tend to have lower self-reported ratings on other wellbeing measures examined. There is evidence of a ‘closing gap’ between the FAS groups over time in terms of some behaviours. The patterns reported here are complex to interpret but do highlight some potentially positive effects of policies for addressing poor diets and dietary inequalities as well as some concerns given the UK context of continuing political uncertainty.

Using administrative data for constructing sampling frames and replacing data collected through surveys

The UK Government agencies have an interest in making greater use of administrative data. This paper discusses the methodological challenges of using administrative data held by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for constructing an alternative sampling frame for the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and for replacing income data collected in the FRS. The analysis shows that administrative data would provide a good basis for sampling the FRS by linking to socio-demographic data held administratively, which would be advantageous for sampling specific sub-populations (e.g. types of benefit recipients or households with children). Sampling using administrative data also potentially offers more representative population sampling by including some addresses currently excluded from the small users Postcode Address File (PAF) but which are important to DWP, such as people living in care homes. However, comparing FRS questions and income data held administratively, suggests little overlap. Therefore, limited gains may be realised from shortening the length of the FRS by using income data from administrative sources.