Research and analytical skills
The outlined SAFER research activities will require a broad range of analytical and specialist skills across both tranches of the SAFER programme, drawing on expertise in statistics, social research, operational research, economics, and data science.
Across tranche one and tranche two, analytical inputs will include, but are not limited to:
- Statistical and data science expertise: statistical and data science input will be used to analyse internal and external datasets to build a robust understanding of the current system. This will include applying appropriate statistical methods to ensure data quality, identify trends and variation, and quantify uncertainty. This analysis will provide robust outputs to inform decision making and help determine where evidence is strong and where gaps remain.
- Social research expertise: social research will gather insights from key stakeholders to understand experiences and perspectives across the current system. This will be supplemented by analysis of existing evidence sources, enabling a comprehensive picture of stakeholder needs. Social researchers will also support other analytical disciplines by providing qualitative insights that contextualise quantitative findings.
- Operational research expertise: operational research will bring together diverse stakeholder perspectives to build a shared understanding of how the system operates and how proposed SAFER interventions may affect it. This will help identify where additional evidence is required and will later inform the development of logic models for options appraisal and evaluation of the chosen approach.
- Economic expertise: economic analysis will draw on available data to understand system performance, assess evidence from multiple sources, and support the development and refinement of options. Once options are shortlisted, economic appraisal will estimate value for money and assess the wider economic impacts of SAFER interventions, supporting robust comparisons against the counterfactual.