Using surveys to develop best practice at the NSPCC
July 2002
Most articulate people can recognize good service and are more than willing to criticize bad service. However, when the service is being provided to individuals who are less skilled at providing feedback or less able to voice concerns, such as vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals who receive services from charitable organizations, it is even more vital to find a way to collect good data on how services are being provided. In reality, achieving best practice is only ever something that can be aspired to, for no matter how good you may be, there are always new challenges and new opportunities to learn and improve. Collecting survey data in a systematic way provides the opportunity to understand what is happening in a changing world, and make practical recommendations for improvements.
Snap’s powerful analysis capabilities, coupled with its in-built ability to present findings as a series of easy-to-follow charts, tables, or to show an instant summary of results make it easy to communicate the findings in a way that everyone can understand.
Snap, as a survey tool, can be used to create professionally designed questionnaires or survey instruments to obtain all the data you need to observe and assess service provision in a highly accurate and objective way. Being a dedicated survey tool means it can improve accuracy and speed up the process of gathering data to reporting on. Snap’s powerful analysis capabilities, coupled with its inbuilt ability to present findings as a series of easy-to-follow charts, tables, or to show an instant summary of results make it easy to communicate the findings in a way that everyone can understand.
At the NSPCC, one of the UK’s leading child welfare charities, using Snap has become central to the charity’s commitment to developing best practice and providing ways to encourage learning and understanding of what that means, in a practical sense, among professionals working with the charity.
Case study: Snap brings objectivity to best practice initiatives at leading children’s charity, the NSPCC
NSPCC (the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) is one of the UK’s most well-known national charities. Founded in 1884, the NSPCC’s relevance is undiminished today, as it continues to protect children from cruelty and abuse in many different practical ways. It provides services to children and families, lobbies national government, provides advice and support to professionals working with children, conducts public education campaigns, and sponsors research into topics, such as the nature of and the identification of child abuse. NSPCC is responsible for over 180 community-based projects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as national initiatives such as the 24 hours NSPCC Child Protection Help Lines.
"The NSPCC is, from the outset, a learning organization and that means it is constantly looking for ways it can improve its internal practice," said Darren Robinson, Research and Information Assistant in the Practice Development Unit. "One of the best ways we can do that is by sharing and discussing what we learn from these studies."
With such a broad spread of activities, the NSPCC established the Practice Development Unit to evaluate the delivery of services and ensure they continue to develop, improve and remain focused on the society’s core objectives. Darren explained: "When we talk to staff we use questionnaires or interviews. In order to collate all that information we use Snap. We also create the questionnaire in Snap as it offers a lot more flexibility than trying to do it using a database or word processor."
The findings are then keyed into Snap and reports are created, typically as a series of graphs, using the Snap analysis module. "From this, we can put forward ideas to the individual service managers not just on where they are at, but where they might like to be," said Darren.
"I would still use Snap even for such small samples," Darren remarked. " It means we are using a standard and consistent method." In evaluation research, such consistency of method is vital in establishing the credibility of the findings.
Within the team, Snap is used for surveys involving anything from hundreds of completed questionnaires to some studies where the entire sample may only amount to 40 service managers. "I would still use Snap even for such small samples," Darren remarked. " It means we are using a standard and consistent method." In evaluation research, such consistency of method is vital in establishing the credibility of the findings. If the results are to form the basis of some national debate, they need to stand up to considerable scrutiny. In addition, it allows for valid comparisons to be made across surveys.
For Darren, it also means he can present all of his data using Snap’s charting capabilities. "When you put the data into chart form it becomes very easy to use and understand," he remarked. "That is what Snap offers you, which for any audience, is important."
The overall appearance of the questionnaires, produced at the NSPCC, is clear and professional. Questionnaires often go through several drafts and revisions, and Darren finds Snap of particular help here, as the questionnaire is reformatted automatically. "The ‘renumber questions’ button is an absolute godsend," he remarked.
Snap also helps with the testing and piloting of surveys. Darren finds that Snap’s test entry mode offers an excellent way to troubleshoot any new survey, especially for question completion and data entry issues. "This way, these kinds of problems can be sorted out in a couple of hits instead of getting to the stage when you have rolled out the survey and it is too late to do anything about it."
The Practice Development team typically run a pilot study on a small sample to iron out any other design issues, or for very small sample surveys, will peer-review the questionnaire with an experienced colleague.
Darren praised the quality of the charts and reports Snap allows him to produce. "One of the easiest things is the overview, which it produces straightaway - it is really good for getting your mind around the overall picture."
Using the software has enabled the team to apply their objective and systematic survey techniques across a wide range of NSPCC services. The studies have been instrumental in, highlighting variations in practice and identifying areas where aspirations are being achieved.
Darren comments that as he has used Snap he has found it relatively easy to learn and flexible to use. "It is a tool for a specific job, which it does well – and it always gives you a number of different ways of doing things."
How Snap is able to help the NSPCC
The NSPCC has become highly sophisticated users of Snap. Apart from the general ease of use and flexibility that Snap offers, there are a number of features of Snap that particularly suit this user’s very rigorous method of research. Overall, it is the accuracy and reliability of Snap that meets a crucial need in establishing the acceptance of the data and the conclusions that the charity’s Practice Development Unit put forward.
- Questionnaire libraries and templates make it easy to start from a standard, well-tested questionnaire, which can then be adapted for each area being studied.
- Questionnaires can be modified easily, with pagination and renumbering happening automatically, unlike questionnaires written using a word processor.
- The system’s inbuilt understanding of question types and survey data makes it more accurate and easier to set up than a general program like a spreadsheet or a database.
- Questionnaires can be tested thoroughly, reducing the risk of design errors that would undermine the results.
- The system can handle many different kinds of data, including write-in comments, which can be sorted and presented in the final report.
- Even very small samples can be keyed in, as the amount of set-up time is minimal, ensuring that a consistent method is followed.
- Flexible charts and reports mean that the results can be communicated very effectively to people who are not expert in statistics.
Overall, by circulating the finding throughout the entire organization, it means that everyone can continue to learn and improve, through better knowledge and understanding.