Tim Harford: The Undercover Economist

Tim Harford is one of those people who is able to make complicated things sound simple. He presents a show on Radio 4 about statistics called More or Less. There's a whole archive of shows available here and lots of the shows mention social issues which you'll have discussed in class.

The reason I'm blogging about him now is because he wrote a piece this week on migration and welfare. You can read it here and it's great.

Bear in mind it's an opinion piece; it isn't peer reviewed and it makes no claims to be objective.

The Welfare System assignment

There is a certain assignment that every year causes ASS second years some 'consternation' (for consternation read  FULL FAT, NO HOLDS BARRED TURMOIL), but I assure you it's not as bad you might think.
Think of it as a rites of passage.

Here's four suggestions to make the welfare systems assignment more manageable...

1. Don't get hung up on the phrase 'Welfare System'; if you use "Welfare State" in its place you'll probably find.some material too.

2. The 'Ebooks on Demand' project is still running. I sat with a student this week who rented two e-books for herself covering welfare, one on Nigeria and one on China and it's really helped.

3. You almost certainly WON'T find one single journal article covering the three countries you're looking for. So don't look for it. Instead do separate DISCOVER journal article searches for three countries and then compare them yourself afterwards. You'll write a better essay as a result.

4. Marketline is a database you probably won't have used before, but it has 'country profiles' which might be useful to obtain statistics on population and social provision. They're known as PEST reports which stands for Political, Economic, Social and Technological. Go here to see previous blog posts I've written about it. It's look has changed a little, however you can still search for individual countries via the geography option.

Finally, remember that 2000 words for this assignment is quite tight, so be precise in your analysis.

If you want to see me for some further support regarding this assignment be sure to contact me soon.

Find stuff, read stuff, find stuff, read stu...

I've talked to a few of you recently about the importance of having a viable system for conducting research.

One of the things I've come to realise the hard way is that searching for materials without taking the time to read along the way tends to lead to this.


The downside is that the pile of material then looks so intimidating you want to avoid reading anything.

This then leads to the thought, 'I know, I'll do some more searching instead because that's still work.' Sort of.

So my suggestion is simply this; once you've found and saved 5 articles, stop searching and read those 5 pieces. That way, you get the benefits that increased knowledge brings (mostly importantly, increased confidence, a wider vocabulary and general encouragement) and you can prune what you don't want to keep as you're going along.

Go on. Just try it.

New report on human trafficking and slavery in the UK

The Centre for Criminal Justice have become one of those think tanks that always produce interesting and well researched reports. I don't necessarily agree with their findings, hardly surprising considering they were founded by Iain Duncan Smith, but I do always make a point of reading what they put out. That said, it would be remiss of me not to mention that they describe themselves as non-partisan, and do include contributors from across the political spectrum.

Today they've published a major report on trafficking in the UK called It Happens Here. This research has taken 18 months to compile, took evidence from nearly 200 sources and is an in-depth look at the current systemic failings which have allowed the problem to grow. The police and social workers (just for a change...) do come in for particular criticism.

I can't claim to have read the whole thing - it is over 200 pages - but for any of you who are studying child trafficking this report is brilliantly well timed. You can download the whole thing from here.  Alternatively, if you fancy making do with an overview, the Observer did a pretty good job of summing up the findings yesterday.

If you've the time however always go to the original source.

Proposed changes to how child sex abuse allegations are handled

There was a major announcement yesterday by Keir Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions, suggesting changes as to how allegations of sex abuse should be handled. Broadly this came down to potential victims being treated more seriously from the first moment allegations are made. This is clearly a hugely important issue and any fundamental changes in the perception of victims' credibility could affect any number of areas in which you may work. 

I'm old enough to remember the investigations on Orkney in the early 90's and distinctly recall the distress that dozens of families endured when children were removed without any hard evidence of abuse occurring. I've heard it said by student social workers and others how difficult it can sometimes be to do nothing, even when you've nothing but an unsubstantiated feeling that something isn't right in a family setting.

The newly proposed guidelines suggest a definite shift back towards 'let's assume potential victims are telling us the truth', which many have suggested is a clear reaction to what happened with Jimmy Savile.

The BBC covered the story in great depth yesterday so if you need some background information I suggest that's where you go. It's balanced reporting and makes the point that although many have welcomed the proposed changes, the spectre of being falsely accused can also ruin lives.

This is a tremendously difficult issue and any of you who work with children or adults in this area have my admiration and support.

The BBC coverage can be found here.    

New statistic shows the scale of forced marriage in the UK

The Forced Marriage Unit has today released figures showing it was involved in nearly 1500 cases during 2012. There was a piece on the Today programme this morning about this issue including an interview with a spokesperson from the Freedom charity who campaign against forced marriage. Listening earlier, the debate touched on issues of child protection, domestic violence, sexuality and culture; a combustible mix indeed.

If you'd like to hear the interview then it's available here and the Freedom charity website is definitely worth a look too. If you'd like more information on this issue then I'd be glad to offer some recommendations.

The National Student Survey

I know forms are nobody's idea of a good time. My wife on occasions has resorted to filling in forms for me and giving me the pen to sign my name at the bottom, just to get the things done.
Now I think of it this is probably why she has all the money.

Anyhow. Can I ask any final year students who haven't yet filled in the NSS form to please do so?
We find that as a rule the more students fill in the form, the more accurate the picture becomes as to how happy you are.
When the response rate is lower it's possible to get a false picture. A bit like when there's a low turn out in elections and UKIP end up being taken seriously. Please don't let that happen.

So get it filled in and tell us what you think. It's how we learn to improve things.

Thanks.