Research at SociaLink – Turning Data into Insight for the Sector
Did you know that research is one of SociaLink’s core areas of focus? Behind the scenes, we’re working to ensure the Western Bay of Plenty’s social and community sector has access to timely, relevant insights to help guide ours and your mahi.
Advice and support for organisations
Liz Stewart is our full-time Researcher and Policy Analyst.
Liz is available to help your organisation (of any size) discuss your ideas and needs about research or evaluation e.g, what do you really want to find out, is it feasible, what questions might be useful, do you need help with surveys, write up your findings and so on. From planning your approach to understanding what data to collect and how to evaluate your services it can be useful to have an experienced researcher to lend a hand!
Sector related research and policy analysis
Liz also keeps a close eye on national policy developments, research publications and media trends to inform our work; the most important of which goes into our newsletter or on our website. Recent examples include Max Rashbrooke’s Welfare to Work research and Shamubeel Eaqub’s Social Cohesion report. Liz also drafts submissions on local and national issues with Chief Executive Liz Davies (yes another Liz!), on behalf of the sector – and is always keen to include your on-the-ground experiences. We often seek feedback from organisations before lodging a submission, such as with the recent Community Work Experience proposal and contacting charity shops to explore how they’re managing rubbish dumping for a Tauranga City Council submission. SociaLink’s website research pages are currently being refreshed to make it easier for you to find what you need. In the meantime, we’ll continue to share the latest updates here in your inbox.
Liz Stewart also leads or supports local research projects such as surveying not-for-profits about funding and demand issues both locally and nationally.
Liz Flaherty, our Community Insights Lead, heads up the other side of our research work – supporting local organisations with up-to-date analysis and data to better understand and respond to community needs. Her team (including Dave, Tracy and Liz S), can support your organisation to gain confidence in how you collect, explore, report and learn from the information /data you hold.
A recent example of an ongoing research project the CI team is engaged in is their Local Grocery Prices Survey, which tracks the prices of common food items across Tauranga and the Western Bay – you can view the newly released dashboard and infographics here and all the other CI work to make public data accessible and build your own data skills here.
