Assistant Professor Alasdair Jones, London School of Economics
Date: Wednesday 28 March, 2pm
Venue: Pat Hanan Room, Arts 2 (207-501)
University of Auckland
I will introduce a programme of work I will be undertaking during my visit to the Public Policy Institute (in conjunction with COMPASS) at the University of Auckland. This work will comprise a review and synthesis of existing approaches to research design for public policy evaluation that integrate a qualitative research component. My interest in this area stems from my involvement in a mixed-methods evaluation of the public health impact of a concessionary bus and tram fare scheme for school children in London (the ‘zip card’). Out of this study, my colleagues and I became interested in how the integration of quasi-experimental and inductive designs in evaluation might be conceptualised. I will make the case for one particular conceptual approach to thinking through the relationship between qualitative analysis and causal inference in evaluation. This argument will be grounded in a discussion of some of the findings of the ‘zip card’ evaluation.
More information on this work can be found at https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/research/IVES/IVES10.php.
Alasdair Jones is an Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology at the London School of Economics and the Programme Director for the Department of Methodology’s MSc Social Research Methods. He is also an Associate at LSE Cities. He is a sociologist by training, and has conducted research in a number of thematic areas including urban public space, the transport-health nexus, experiences of living in planned developments, and social care. These studies have involved a variety of methodological approaches and Alasdair has particular interests in the use of qualitative methods in evaluation studies.
Alasdair is visiting the University of Auckland on a UK National Centre for Research Methods ‘International Visitor Exchange Scheme’ award. Prior to working at the LSE, Alasdair held research positions at the University of Hertfordshire and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has also previously undertaken a Fulbright Scholarship at the Center for Ethnographic Research, UC Berkeley, and a Visiting Fellowship at the City Futures Research Centre, UNSW.
