Meeting 5: 29th April, 2020

Sexual Violence Survey Steering Group Meeting

Videoconference between Central Statistics Office and Department of Justice and Equality

29th April 2020 2.20pm

Agenda

1. Introduction – DJE chair

2. Agreement of minutes from last meeting – update on actions

3. Update from CSO on development work to date
     a. Instrument development
     b. Pilot preparation
     c. Stakeholder meetings
     d. COVID-19 implications

4. Finance

5. Next meeting - June 2020

6. AOB

Minutes

Attendees:

• Gurchand Singh, Chief Information Officer, Department of Justice and Equality (Chair)
• Alice Wainwright, Head of Research and Data Analytics, Department of Justice and Equality
• Philip McCormack, Research Officer, Department of Justice and Equality
• Keith McSweeney, Senior Statistician, Central Statistics Office
• 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. The CSO acknowledged and thanked Department of Justice on the timely transfer of the 2020 budget.

3. Update from CSO on development work to date

A progress report was issued to DJE prior to the meeting and CSO gave a brief summary of the document. Since the previous steering group meeting, the office has:

• Finalised the thorough testing described at the last meeting by holding the final focus group with survivors, facilitated by DRCC.
• The questionnaire was presented to the Liaison Group at the last meeting and finalised afterwards. It has been sent to the IT section for conversion into the electronic software. See point A.
• Met with an expert in trauma and a language therapist from the ACTS team (the Assessment Consultation Therapy Service, a multidisciplinary clinical team who work for TULSA, the Child and Family Agency) to discuss the impact of the questionnaire.
• Preparation for the pilot has continued. See point B.
• Consultants for IT development work have been on site in 2020 to work on the continued incorporation of the software into the survey delivery infrastructure.
• Agreement on the master template for the screen interface is almost finalised.
• The establishment of a CSO Social Statistics Ethics Committee has begun. The first survey they will look at will be the SVS. Membership is still being finalised.
• The third Liaison Group meeting was held on the 13th February 2020. See point C.
• Attended the UL conference, The Realities of Rape Trials, on the 24th January.
• Updated DCYA on the development of SVS on the 13th March.
• Evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 on the pilot and wider project. See point D.

A. Instrument development

The questionnaire has been signed off. The next stage is to convert the questionnaire into an application which can be run on tablets for the interviewers to deliver the survey. In order to make the experience simpler and easier for the respondent, new technology (Blaise 5.0) which can support web-based delivery and the potential for new interface designs is being introduced into the office. This requires the following stages:

1. Build the questionnaire in electronic software:
The questionnaire has been issued to the section responsible for converting it into an electronic questionnaire. The Questionnaire Development Unit (QDU) will work with the section to refine and clarify requirements where needed with the new technology. QDU will also be involved in the testing of the instrument to ensure it is robust and satisfies the brief. In addition, the QDU team are currently consulting a group of volunteers from the CSO field team, in their role as experts in getting recruitment at the door, in refining the introductions to the survey.

2. Finalise the interface for the respondent to use the survey:
A key piece of work to improve the experience for the respondent is the development of a new interface which will facilitate easier use of the self-completion section. This interface has been refined over the last six months from the requirements stage to a workable solution using new technology.

3. Build the infrastructure to allow the issue of data on household location and the transfer of data from the tablets:
The IT section have been getting advice from consultants on the integration of this new software into our current infrastructure to allow the issue of cases for an interviewer to work on and return of the data from the tablets.

B. Pilot preparation

The pilot is planned with a sample size of 600 cases using a CAPI/CASI approach. This will require a field team of seven interviewers and one coordinator operating in a mix of urban and rural areas.

The initial focus of the pilot will be to get some quantitative data for the main survey (average length, indicative response rates) but will focus more on the qualitative data - focus on field protocols, evaluate the training and the interviewer case load and supervisor workload.

The next steps in the working towards the pilot include these four main steps:
• development of the additional field protocols that will be necessary for this specific survey
• creating training modules based on the field protocols
• the recruitment of staff to conduct the survey (mix of current and new)
• selecting a sample for the pilot based on the location of the volunteers

Work has commenced on identifying the additional field protocols and their implications for the training. A training outline has been drafted. Lessons learned from other sections which have recently delivered bespoke training will be incorporated where appropriate. The current field staff have been informed of the survey outline.

C. Liaison Group meeting
The third Liaison Group meeting was held on the 13th February. The meeting focused on the revised variable list drafted after testing completed and the questionnaire itself. It was a productive meeting with good discussion around wording and several topics. Feedback was received at and after the meeting on additional needs which were considered by the CSO. As a result, two new variables were added. A final list of variables to proceed to the pilot stage was released to the Liaison Group.

The agenda from the Liaison Group meeting is currently published on the website and the minutes from Group will be published once they are agreed by the group.

D. COVID Impact
Current CSO field operations have been changed significantly since COVID-19 arrived in Ireland, with face to face interviewing halted. An evaluation of the impacts of COVID on the project was discussed with key members of the CSO team. It is unrealistic that the pilot in July, which was on target to be achieved, will be conducted in light of the uncertainty as to when usual field operations will resume due to the risk to field staff and householders. A revised plan for the pilot is being generated – with a pilot planned for 2021 – however there is a critical assumption that field operations will resume in 2021.

The estimated plan of work for 2020 will prepare for the pilot with work as originally outlined over a longer timescale, including preparation for the ethics committee, but also will examine the:

• Potential for additional pieces of IT related work to be completed for a revised pilot timeline e.g. the provision of a CAWI (web based) approach to be delivered for the sensitive modules (this was not in the schedule for the pilot in 2020)
• Current capacity to support a mini pilot with survivors (was proposed in Jan 2020 to be run in parallel as the field pilot in 2020)

4. Finance
An overview report on 2020 spend was issued in advance. Over half the budget was expected to be spent over the period May - August as this is when the pilot was expected to be conducted. The actual spend in March is less than the expected spend due to the reprioritisation of work within the CSO due to COVID-19. A substantial underspend is forecast for 2020 with the postponement of the pilot. A description of the approach to under- and overspend in previous projects was outlined by the CSO. Clarity on a shared approach to underspend and commitment to multiannual funding should be confirmed in light of the COVID impact on wider public sector budgets.

5. Next meeting
The 24th June was proposed as the date for the next official Steering Group meeting. A virtual meeting will be booked and can be revised closer to the date if restrictions are lifted in the interim.

6. AOB
An update was given on the last Monitoring Committee for the Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence where an update on the project was shared. It was received well by the attendees.