Putting users' voices at the heart of research and evaluation
Speaker(s):
Bio: Dr. Sana Iqbal holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Geography from Coventry University (UK). Her research was embedded at the intersection of urban geography, cultural studies and gender. She has extensive experience in conducting research on a wide range of topics gathered through her experience of working in academia, the charity sector as well as the local authority in the UK. She is an expert in qualitative research methods and is committed to the principles of co-production of knowledge and maintaining an interdisciplinary research perspective. She is also a published author with excellent communication skills. Being senior researcher at TSIC, she has been focused on producing robust literature reviews, developing research instruments (for conducting interviews, focus group discussion, participant observations, etc.), taking the lead for research data collection, analysis and interpretation. She has also worked on multiple evaluation frameworks for assessing the social impact of the projects and making sure that the knowledge of the best available social research methods is utilised appropriately.
Bio: Yu-Shan is a Senior Consultant at TSIC. She has conducted 30+ monitoring, evaluation and learning projects with clients focused on issues such as equality, education, climate change and community development. Her clients include Comic Relief, British Council, OVO Foundation and the Science Museum Group. She specialised in equitable evaluation and data visualisation/storytelling. She is part of the coordinating team at the Equitable Evaluation Collective, which was established to enable and promote equity centred practice in social sector evaluation. Prior to TSIC, she worked in management consulting at KPMG, where she advised 10+ social ventures in sectors ranging from children and young people to sustainable agriculture, on business strategy, corporate partnership and organisational design. She also has experience in a start-up accelerator, an education charity and a sustainability business. She holds an MSc in Management from Imperial College London and a BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures with a minor in sustainability development from National Taiwan University. She was also in a 6-month scholar programme with McKinsey & Company.
Abstract:
In the social sector, the lack of physical and cognitive diversity among funders and leaders within social sector organisations means that decision-makers rarely come from backgrounds that reflect the lived realities of end users (traditionally called ‘beneficiaries’). They often have little to no influence on decision-making and are unable to define the projects they are supposed to benefit from. Research often only includes end users when data is required from them rather than throughout the research cycle.
TSIC’s USERS methodology provides practical guidance on co-production with end users across various research stages. In this workshop, we will introduce the methodology and share examples. Participants will have the chance to turn theory into practice, by collaborating on designing a research plan in breakout rooms and exchanging learning in the main room.