Making Data Work for Public Sector Policy: A scoping study to develop a mixed-methods framework for culture

这个项目背后的基本原理是，文化数据集目前处于较差的发展状态，不适合目的。正如许多学者、文化工作者、资助者和政策制定者所观察到的那样，文化数据是不完整、碎片化和不一致的。关于如何收集数据，甚至收集什么类型的数据，都没有商定的协议，也没有标准化的数据管理方法。这意味着，目前来自文化部门的所有数据并不是为了交叉分析而建立的，这使得很难评估和提供有关文化部门整体表现和影响的证据。这使得该行业不受公众、一些地方议会甚至政府的认可，因此在当前的COVID-19危机等金融和经济危机中非常容易受到公共资金削减的影响。这个探索性项目的中心目标是共同开发一个适合目的的混合方法文化评估框架，该框架将来自大型数据集的见解与捕捉文化生产者和消费者（如艺术家、策展人和观众）的生活经验的软定性数据相结合。我们希望通过建立一个新的战略网络来实现这一目标，通过面对面和/或通过网络研讨会进行一系列磋商和讨论，找出并测试上述问题的可能解决方案。该网络将包括关键数据、政策和文化部门的利益相关者，包括英国政府的数字、文化、媒体和体育部（DCMS）和广泛的国家文化组织，这些组织致力于开发更强大的数据标准和协议，并通过共享数据和开放研究来促进文化影响和评估的更联合的方法。该项目的第二个目标是影响文化政策的制定，并以此为一般公共政策的制定方式提供信息。我们认为，目前的公共政策制定与它的目标是造福的人和地方太远了，而且它过度依赖于数字，而这些数字未能讲述文化部门对社会影响的令人信服的故事。因此，我们希望证明，一种更加联合和以人为本的方法来评估文化对个人和社区的影响，将产生更可靠和可信的数据，以反映不同的人和地方体验文化的特定方式来捕捉影响。我们将通过设计一个全面的布拉德福德案例研究来测试我们新兴的数据和评估框架。我们之所以选择布拉德福德，主要是因为该市正在动员申请2025年的英国文化之城，作为准备工作的一部分，它正在进行详细的需求分析，这需要将文化数据与该市持有的其他人口和健康数据来源进行复杂的合并。所以我们和布拉德福德的接触将会互有收获。为了实现我们的目标，该项目汇集了一个由学术和文化部门专家组成的专家团队。总的来说，我们的研究人员在研究方法、文化管理和评估、政策参与和发展以及数据管理和分析方面拥有丰富的经验。我们的行业合作伙伴包括世界领先的文化组织，如大英图书馆、泰特美术馆和国家历史博物馆；国家文化资助机构，如英格兰艺术委员会和历史英格兰；包括The Audience Agency和MyCake在内的专业文化数据分析师；以及重要的区域合作伙伴，包括布拉德福德2025、布拉德福德教学医院及其“出生在布拉德福德”项目，以及布拉德福德市议会。这些杰出的合作伙伴将在我们的研究之旅中与我们合作，在如何收集和利用文化数据来影响积极的社会变革方面带来一个阶段性的变化。

The rationale behind this project is that cultural datasets are currently in a poor state of development and not fit-for-purpose. As many scholars, cultural workers, funders and policymakers have observed, cultural data are incomplete, fragmented and inconsistent. There are no agreed protocols about how to collect data, or even about what kind of data to collect, and no standardised approach to data management. This means that all of the data coming from the cultural sector are not currently set up for cross-analysis, which makes it very difficult to evaluate and provide evidence about the performance and impact of the cultural sector as a whole. This leaves the sector poorly appreciated by the general public, some local councils and even governments, and therefore very vulnerable to public funding cuts in financial and economic crises such as the current COVID-19 crisis. The central aim of this exploratory project is to co-develop a fit-for-purpose mixed-methods cultural evaluation framework that combines insights from large datasets with soft, qualitative data that capture the lived experiences of people who produce and consume culture, such as artists, curators and audiences. We hope to achieve this by developing a new strategic network to scope and test out possible solutions to the problems listed above though a series of consultations and discussions conducted face-to-face and/or through webinars. This network will include key data, policy and cultural sector stakeholders, including the UK Government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and a wide range of national cultural organisations who are committed to developing more robust data standards and protocols and to fostering a more joined-up approach to cultural impact and evaluation by sharing their data and opening them up to research. A secondary goal of this project is to shape cultural policymaking and in so doing to inform the ways in which public policy in general is developed. We believe that public policymaking is currently too far removed from the people and places it aims to benefit and that is it overly reliant on numbers that fail to tell compelling stories of the cultural sector's impact on society. We hope to demonstrate, therefore, that a more joined-up and people-centred approach to evaluating the impacts of culture on individuals and communities would produce more reliable and credible data that capture impacts in ways that reflect the particular ways in which different people and places experience culture. We will test our emerging data and evaluation frameworks by designing a comprehensive case study of Bradford. We have chosen Bradford essentially because the city is mobilising to apply for UK City of Culture in 2025, and as part of this preparation, it is undertaking a detailed needs analysis that requires complex merging of cultural data with other sources of demographic and health data held by the city. So our engagement with Bradford will be mutually informative. In order to achieve our objectives, the project has brought together an expert team of academic and cultural sector specialists. Collectively, our researchers have significant experience in research methods, cultural management and evaluation, policy engagement and development, and data management and analysis. Our sector partners include world-leading cultural organisations such as the British Library, Tate and the National History Museum; national cultural funders such as Arts Council England and Historic England; expert cultural data analysts including The Audience Agency and MyCake; and significant regional partners including Bradford 2025, Bradford Teaching Hospitals and its Born in Bradford project, and Bradford City Council. These exceptional partners will work with us on our research journey to bring about a step-change in how cultural data is gathered and used to influence positive social change.