In an era of killer soundbites how can researchers and policy-makers close the gap between complexity and simplicity?

In the world today, simple but wrong answers are preferred to complex and right answers. Policy-makers are often more interested in a good soundbite than a detailed and tailored understanding of a complex world. So… in this 'post-truth era', is complexity becoming a dirty word? Or is the dirty word 'post-truth'?

Here Dr Claire Bynner, Research Associate at What Works Scotland, shares some of the highlights from the Social Research Association’s annual conference* and discusses how we might bridge the gap between complexity and simplicity, drawing on examples from evaluation research.

Why place?

Prevention, performance, participation, partnership; the four pillars of the Christie Commission are now well-known. But what about ‘place’? 

Here What Works Scotland Research Associate Claire Bynner examines the role of place-based approaches, what ‘place’ offers to public service development and delivery, and also what it doesn’t. 

Co-production: I believe in Unicorns after all, they are Scotland’s National animal!

A guest blog by Hilda Campbell from COPE Scotland, who was our ‘keynote reader’ at the Scottish launch of Catherine Durose’s new book Designing Public Policy for Co-production: Theory, practice and change. 

Decision Making - Does Anyone Care?

What Works Scotland Research Fellow Rosemary Anderson reflects on the relationship between decision-making and caring in public policy work.

Why Can’t We Trust the Word ‘Welfare’ in Policy Making?

Dr Hayley Bennett , Research Associate at What Works Scotland, reflects on a talk given by Professor John Hills, London School of Economics (LSE) at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, on Friday 20th March. 

Dr Hayley Bennett's research interests include British employment policy, minimum income provision, and activation programmes.

A Better Place: Communities, Citizens and Consumers & New Approaches to Social Policy & Public Services

Alistair Stoddart, Community Engagement & Scotland Lead with The Democratic Society, shares some initial thoughts from the Better Place forum. 

Jim Mather reviews The Whitehall Effect by John Seddon, an uncompromising account of Whitehall’s effect on our public services.

In this blog former Scottish Government minister Jim Mather reviews John Seddon's latest book The Whitehall Effect: How Whitehall became the enemy of great public services and what we can do about it. It addresses themes central to the goals of What Works Scotland and builds on earlier work that has already influenced the emergence of a new Scottish model of development and delivery.