The ‘Questions Generator 1.0’: producing scientific evidence to inform child and family service adaptation in response to COVID-19

Tim Hobbs | CEO | @tim_hobbs_lab

Commissioners and providers of services for children and families are having to make rapid and ongoing changes to what they provide, who they provide it to, and how they provide it in respect of the COVID-19 crisis. We need these services to have an impact – design and delivery based on the best available evidence about need and ‘what works’ makes that more likely. 

At Dartington Service Design Lab (and in partnership with peer organisations) we’re ready to generate and synthesise the knowledge that delivery organisations and commissioners need. We’ve been working with statutory and voluntary sector service providers and commissioners to find out more about what their most important and pressing needs are. We also wanted to hear more about what sorts of support would be most valuable in applying this evidence.  

To make this possible, we built version 1.0 of a ‘Questions Generator’ – five simple questions which automatically generated a research question at the end, based on the responses. 

What has the result been? 

Right now, we’re reviewing the questions, and considering them alongside wider data sources, systemic foresight work and the insights from some of the nation’s leading child development experts.  

We’ll feed these insights into wider synthesis and support efforts, such as the Catalyst initiative (find out about that here, and a bit about our role here), and work being undertaken by the Early Intervention Foundation (you can see their short survey here). 

All of this together will help us better understand what’s wanted and needed by children, young people, families, and the organisations that are supporting them. In turn, the research community can rapidly generate and synthesise the evidence that organisations need in a very practical and applied way. We’ll keep working on the best way to meet your needs with a range of partners in the coming weeks and months.  

How do I see the results? 

The questions that are generated will be pinned to the dedicated Questions Generator webpage. However to keep up to date with our progress on the research, please do sign up here to our newsletter.

Stay safe and look after each other.