Developing Useful Parameters, Learning and Outcomes (DUPLO) (360G-cabinetoffice-G2-GA-202210824152-22-23)

Much of the work undertaken under this project will not be specific evaluations of particularinterventions. However, we will be undertaking a number of evaluations of interventionsover the period of the funding, to develop and refine particular methodologies. These are;Rapid method trialsOur research partners at KCL have developed (Sanders and Whelan, 2022), a rapidmethod for conducting randomised controlled trials in public and social policy settings.This method is adapted from the rapid method pioneered by Professor Sarah Gilbert,which was most prominently used in the development of the Oxford/AstrazenecaCOVID-19 Vaccine, and recounted in GIlbert and Green (2021).These methods show promise as a means of developing useful evidence more quickly andmore reliably, while reducing the number of false negatives in empirical research.Over the course of the funding period, we will work with government departments and whatworks centres to identify and conduct 4 trials deploying this rapid methodStepped Wedge TrialsStepped Wedge Trials are those in which an intervention is rolled out over a period of timeto new participant groups of locations, and in which the order of this rollout is conducted atrandom. This method is ideally suited to the evaluation of a government policy orintervention which is to be rolled out over time, and where the order of the rollout wouldotherwise be arbitrary. Despite this, very few stepped wedge trials have been used insocial policy research. Examples of previous studies in this area include Sanders et al(2021), and Sanders et al (2019a,b,c).Over the course of the period covered by this funding, we will identify interventions beingrolled out across the domains supported by what works centres, and support them toconduct stepped wedge trials of at least two such interventions. At the same time, we willdevelop new statistical tools for sample size calculation for stepped wedge trials, which arecurrently poorly and unreliably specified.As well as publishing protocols for these studies and their findings, we will publish practicalguides to support future researchers to conduct them.