In this guest blog, Rosie Chadwick draws on her own experience and shares her list of suggested barriers that need to be overcome before organisations can use evidence more effectively.   What gets in the...

  In this guest blog, Naomi Eisenstadt discusses the use of evidence within the Government’s Sure Start programme.  The term ‘evidence’ is being loosely used in imprecise ways to argue for particular approaches to solving social...

  Ruth Puttick introduces Nesta’s Standards of Evidence, developed to test whether the products and services Nesta Impact Investments fund make a positive difference. This new approach aims to bring impact measurement in line with academically...

  In this guest blog, Jackie Killeen, the Scotland Director of the Big Lottery Fund, discusses the value of both finding and utilising evidence to inform organisation priorities and funding. I recently took part in a...

  Guest blog by Stephen Anderson, Director of the Campaign for Social Science, discusses why the post of Chief Social Science Advisor should be reinstated. Imagine the outcry there would be if the government announced that...

  Guest blog from Claire Lightowler, programme manager of Evidence-informed practice (EiP) at IRISS, discusses research practice. At an event today about community empowerment in Scotland someone approached me to discuss his less than empowering experience...

  Ceri J. Philips, Professor of Health Economics at Swansea University, discusses his new book, co-authored with Colin Palfrey and Paul Thomas, which reviews the value of evaluation to policy and practice.  It comes at a...

  Michael Gove’s decision to overturn internal advice of the School Playing Fields Advisory board has once again brought to light the difficulties politicians can have with advisory boards, writes Jo Casebourne. Politicians often have to...

  Many claim to be seeking “what works” when looking for the solutions that will meet certain social goals.  This quest for evidence-based policies, programmes and practice has gained a renewed momentum, with the Cabinet Secretary...

  Following last week’s announcement of the Alliance for Useful Evidence, Professor Jonathan Shepherd writes a guest blog on how increasing the demand for rigorous evidence will involve capitalising on the instinct of all decision makers....

  We are delighted to announce that we are working with the ESRC – and others – to create an Alliance for Useful Evidence. As the past few days have shown there are a number of...

  “You say “evidence”. Well, there may be evidence. But evidence, you know, can generally be taken two ways” – Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment, 1866 The blogs over the past two weeks have demonstrated that embedding...