integrating quantitative and qualitative data to support more effective public health action
TRANSCRIPT
Integrating quantitative and qualitative data to support more
effective public health action
Kevin Balanda,Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH)
Open Conference, Belfast 11 October 2012
What do effective public health interventions look like?
Diverse information….
Details of:
• Evidence• Routine data• Policies• News and organisations• Interventions
Involves:
• Both qualitative and qualitative data • Explicit (written) and tacit (unwritten)
Drawn from the academic and “grey” literature
Easily accessed, usefully presented and effectively managed • Bring different types of information together in
one “place”
• Flexible searching/browsing that applies to different types of information
• Present different types of information alongside each other
• Tools to help people manage, understand and share that information
Separation of quantitative/qualitative data
The value of data linkage is well recognised.A broader type of “data integration” - co-location of qualitative and quantitative data - is needed.
Analytically, it will: • Place data analyses in policy and practice context• Fill gaps in quantitative data• Extend data analyses to topics not covered by quantitative
data.
Strategically, it will:• Put policy and practice at the centre • Strengthen knowledge co-production by academics, policy
makers and practitioners.• Encourage use of health intelligence
An example of this type of “data integration”
Online library of key documents
www.thehealthwell.info
Resources on the Health Well• Interventions• Policies• Routine data• Evidence:–Open Access Journals –Systematic reviews –Guidance–Other research and evaluation
• News• News articles and publications • Organisations
Community Profiles Tool
• 160 indicators
• All-island, NI plus RoI, NI only, RoI only
• Grouped into themes
• Compiled for all counties in the RoI and LGDs in NI
(www.thehealthwell.info/community-profiles)
Current Themes Obesity Diabetes Mental Health
Stroke Hypertension Coronary Heart Disease
Chronic Airflow Obstruction Cancer Musculoskeletal
Living conditions Working conditions
Education
Early years Health behaviours and environments
Health protection
Health service resources Community resources
Early detection
Hospital Morbidity Demographic and Socio-economic conditions
Mortality
Fuel poverty
A “traditional” data website …
… with co-located relevant documents
… Health Well Search Facility
What could other data websites do?
1. Add links (or a webpage of links) to relevant documents
2. Allow visitors to search the Health Well from the website (search widgets)
3. Become a partner website of the Health Well
4. Co-locate key public health documents in the website
What’s needed for this “data integration?”
• Agreed set of “key public health documents”– Reduced set (for use in offline data apps)– Full set (for use in online data websites)
• Agreed core metadata standards• Central repository of documents • Some relatively simple web programming• Perhaps most importantly, the “will”
Opportunities in the new public health frameworks in both jurisdictions
