Gathering and analysing qualitative information takes time and skills which my clients often do not have access to in-house. Contracting me on a freelance basis enables them to get the answers they need in an efficient and cost-effective way. I have particular experience working in the voluntary, charity and education sector.

 

My work involves collecting information, analysing and distilling it and re-presenting it in a form which is useful to the client, usually a report. There are many applications for the kind of work I do but at its most fundamental I create or find a body of data and see what, if anything, it tells you. I can gather data for you by face-to-face interviews, focus groups, questionnaires etc. I am always happy to advise on what can be done and welcome approaches to discuss possible jobs or for a quotation.

 

Through my work with St Mungo’s I have developed a particular expertise in conducting qualitative peer research. The value of peer research is that interviewees are considerably more comfortable talking to someone who is, or has been, in a similar situation to themselves. I train the researchers and guide them through the process of deciding which questions are important to ask. Drawing up the interview script is part of my job and then I sometimes accompany the interviewers to their sessions. Data comes back to me either as written notes or audio/ video files and I then perform a thorough qualitative analysis and draw up findings.

 

Recent projects include

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· Thesaurus Construction (Since 2011) Construction and ongoing management of new thesaurus to underpin Society of Indexer’s Indexers Available application. 

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· Society of Indexer surveys (Since 2008). Analysing the results of several small membership surveys (70-100 respondents) for my professional organisation. Started 2008 and ongoing. One of the surveys involves year-on-year comparisons building up a picture over time of trends in the profession.

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- Plain English documents (Since 2018). Converting a variety of school documents into Plain English for better comprehensibility.

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- State of Fear (2021) Fact checking using an array of data sources.

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- Focus Groups (2021 and 2019). Worth Independent School. Conducted focus groups about issues of proposed adjustments to the school day, analysed data and wrote report.

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· Little Red Schoolbook (Pinter and Martin, 2014). Researched and wrote footnotes for this re-issue of a book previously published, and banned, in the 1960s.

 

· St Mungo’s Disability Focus Group (2012-2014). For this ground-breaking project, which included both staff and client researchers, I trained peer researchers and analysed data from 10 interviews plus focus groups. I subsequently wrote a report which led into action for the Working Group.

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· An Even Better Deal for Women (2013). Follow-up to the 2008 project (see below). Trained two groups of peer researchers and analysed data from 60 interviews (25% audio). Wrote up final report, reviewed with peer researchers and revised.

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· No More: Homelessness through the eyes of recent rough sleepers (2013). For this project I trained peer researchers, accompanied them to interview sessions, did some interviews myself and analysed the data (34 interviews, mostly audio) into an interim report. I also had the pleasure of being present when the report was launched at the House of Commons

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· Evaluation of Putting Down Roots (2013). For this evaluation of St Mungo’s award-winning gardening project I trained peer-researchers, accompanied them to sessions for interviews and analysed the data.

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· Out in the Cold (2012). Peer-researched report about homeless people’s experiences of eviction. I trained researchers, analysed data, reviewed literature and wrote a report.

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· Bridging the Gap. (2012). Peer-researched report about access to mental health services. I trained researchers, analysed data and was main author of the report.

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· Baby Café National Statistics 2012. Analysis of operational data belonging to a small charity and production of various statistical reports, graphs and information products from the data.

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· Rebuilding Shattered Lives (2012). See campaign at http://rebuildingshatteredlives.org/ . Gathered primary data via interviews with homeless women and conducted literature review to provide a background document for internal reference for use throughout the campaign.

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· Mental Health and Homelessness Briefing (April 2012) Participating author, gathered and organised material and drafted text.

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· Broken, Battered, Bereft. (2011) Report on rough sleeping. Participating author, conducted case study interviews and wrote up.

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· Enough Room: Is society big enough for homeless people (2011). Participating author including doing a large part of the data analysis for this report into homeless people and Big Society. 

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· Happiness Matters (2009).  Main author/researcher on a large scale peer-researched project into the mental health of homeless adults. 

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· A Better Deal for Women (2008). Sole author/researcher on combined literature review and peer-researched project looking into services for homeless women.

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· What Works? (2008) Sole author/researcher  on project looking into what services are effective in homelessness provision.

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