1. Introduction – CSO chair
2. Agreement of minutes from last meeting – update on actions
3. Update from CSO on development work to date
4. Finance
a. 2021 update on spend
b. 2022 costing
5. Next meeting - Sept 2021
6. AOB
Attendees:
• Gurchand Singh, Chief Data Officer, Department of Justice
• Philip McCormack, Research Officer, Department of Justice
• Keith McSweeney, Senior Statistician, Central Statistics Office (Chair)
• Helen McGrath, Statistician, Central Statistics Office
1. Introduction
The Chair welcomed all members of the steering group.
2. Agreement of minutes from last meeting
The minutes from the last meeting were agreed and updates were given on each action.
3. Update from CSO on development work to date
A progress report was issued to the Department prior to the meeting and CSO gave a brief summary of the document. Since the previous steering group meeting, the office has:
• Completed the pilot for the SVS. See Point A.
• With the support of DRCC, a survivor focus group on the full SVS questionnaire was held in June 2021.
• Preparation for the next stages of the main survey design have begun. The CSO Methodology unit have been consulted and they will be advising the team on potential options. The Gannt chart of project activities is being expanded to 2022. Estimates for 2022 are being progressed – planned for finalisation by end July. A plan for the main survey will be drafted in September.
• The next Liaison Group meeting will be in September.
A. The pilot
The main purpose of the SVS pilot was to test the feasibility of the web-based data collection (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI)) approach and test the questionnaire and field operations approach before the main survey. Publication of prevalence figures or nationally representative data was not within scope for this pilot. The pilot was based on two approaches:
A field-based approach to test recruitment of the household and selection of respondent at random by an interviewer. The web-based SVS survey was issued to that randomly selected respondent. There were 1,997 households involved in this test.
A web-based approach where the household was recruited by letter and a respondent aged 18 years and over from the household was asked to complete the survey online. There were 1,994 households involved in this test.
• The pilot ran from the 19th April to the 26th June. During this time there were limitations on the extent that field work could operate due to the COVID restrictions. Field staff were limited to one day in the field, but it could be extended to two days subject to prior approval from the office. Anecdotally from field staff, increases in COVID infections in a region e.g. Limerick in early June had an effect on respondent’s willingness to engage with field staff within that region. The HSE ransomware attack was announced on the 14th May also impacted on the ability to recruit households for the next two weeks.
• Notwithstanding these issues, there were a lot of valuable findings from the pilot.
Related to the questionnaire, initial observations from looking at the respondent module show that despite the majority of people finding the questionnaire sensitive, they found it quick and found using the website easy.
Related to the field operations, there were two feedback sessions with field-based staff. Overall field staff felt they were prepared for the field and shared their experiences including suggestions for improvements to introductions, field work approaches and the design of the instrument with which they collected the basic information.
On the test of the approaches using the online instrument, overall one in four (25%) households responded to the web based only approach. The field-based approach had two stages – selection of the random person from within the household and the completion of the survey. Just over two in five households (42%) completed the random selection stage with just over two in five (42%) of these completing the survey leading to 18% response rate overall.
4. Finance
An overview report on 2021 spend was issued in advance. The spend for the first five months of the year was discussed. The CSO has begun work on building the 2022 estimate for SVS costs. This will be available in early August for the estimates process. The CSO Finance unit will require confirmation that these costs will be included in the Department of Justice 2022 figures in August. The Department reiterated its commitment to support this important project.
5. Next meeting
September was agreed as the month for the next official Steering Group meeting. A date will be agreed closer to the time. A virtual meeting will be booked and can be revised closer to the date if restrictions are lifted in the interim.
6. AOB
There was no AOB.
Action Owner
Provide 2022 estimate early August CSO
Publish agreed minutes CSO
Confirm date for September meeting CSO
