Connecting Society: How everyday data can shape our lives
Ever wondered what happens to all the data collected about you by government and public services? Whenever you sit a school exam, visit your GP, go to court, or pay tax, a wealth of information is created to help these services run. But how is this data used, and could it actually improve your life?
Connecting Society explores the fascinating world of administrative data. Through conversations with experts, we reveal how linking data and making it available for research can uncover solutions to real-world, interconnected challenges - from improving health outcomes to tackling inequality and more.
Join our hosts, Mark Green, Professor of Health Geography at the University of Liverpool and ADR UK Ambassador, and Shayda Kashef, Senior Public Engagement Manager at ADR UK, to discover how the data shaping your life could also help shape the future.
Connecting Society is presented by Shayda Kashef and Mark Green, our producers are Eleanor Collard, Holly Greenland, Laura Mulvey and Shayda Kashef.
This podcast is brought to you by ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK), a partnership transforming public sector data into research insights and policy evidence to improve lives. We are an investment by the Economic and Social Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.
Connecting Society: How everyday data can shape our lives
Can evaluation be a violent act? Rethinking policy evaluation
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Evaluation is often seen as a neutral and technical process: collecting data, measuring outcomes, and judging whether a policy or programme “worked”. But what if the way we evaluate is shaping - and sometimes harming - the very systems and communities we’re trying to improve?
Dr Luke Roberts is a complexity theorist and evaluator who argues that traditional approaches to policy evaluation do not account for the complex, adaptive systems that underpin society. From inequality and public services to technology adoption and the future of work, change doesn’t happen in neat, linear ways. Yet, evaluation methods often impose fixed timelines, rigid metrics and narrow perspectives that can risk missing what really matters.
In this episode, we’ll explore Luke’s provocative claim that evaluation can be a violent act. His work invites us to consider how researchers can think differently about intervention-based policy and how it’s evaluated. We’ll discuss how alternative approaches to evaluation could transform how we use data, involve lived experience, and design policies that help people and systems thrive.
Want to know more about administrative data? Visit: adruk.org
Connecting Society is presented by Shayda Kashef and Mark Green, our producers are Eleanor Collard, Holly Greenland, Laura Mulvey and Shayda Kashef.
This podcast is brought to you by ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK), a partnership transforming public sector data into research insights and policy evidence to improve lives. We are an investment by the Economic and Social Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.
