Measuring Change and Monitoring Targets, Stirling

The Measuring Change and Monitoring Targets workshop was hosted by Stirling Council.

Presentations were given by statisticians from the Scottish Government; Claire Boag, Richard Morrison, Mairi Spowage and Sara Grainger.

The following people attended the workshop:

Karen Robertson, Historic Scotland

Ron Hunter, SPT

Debra Gee, Scottish Water

Robert Murray, Scottish Water

Phillip Chatikobo, Scottish Water

Alison Turnbull, Museums & Galleries Scotland

Bob Stead, West Lothian Council

Gayle Morton, Glasgow City Council

Cherie-Ann Jarvie, Clackmannanshire Council

Philip Brown, Edinburgh City Council

Alastair McAlpine, Central Scotland Police

Bob Ramsay, Moray Council

Joelle Russell, Stirling Council

Feedback

Eleven people who attended the day provided feedback by indicating their agreement to the following statements on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1= "strongly agree" and 5= "strongly disagree":

I found the opportunity to meet colleagues from other public bodies and Government useful. Mean score = 2.0

I feel more able to clearly communicate to others whether change has occurred in an indicator and to discuss what would make a sensible target. Mean score = 2.5

I have better understanding of setting and monitoring targets e.g. the importance of understanding the data and the precision of estimates. Mean score = 1.9

I have an increased awareness of the issues associated with monitoring change in an indicator e.g. confidence intervals, seasonality, and possible bias in data. Mean score = 2.0

The venue and its facilities were appropriate and the administrative arrangements were satisfactory. Mean score = 1.6

In answer to the question "What have been the most useful points about today?" the people who attended said: "Information on calculating confidence intervals"; "Making contacts"; "Worked examples and presentations"; "Group discussion"; "Thinking about using the data and how to make sensible targets"; "The indicator group exercise was extremely useful. In general it was helpful to discuss approaches with people from different organisations".

In response to the question "What improvements would you recommend for future workshops?" there were less comments but a few people mentioned that more group discussion would be useful.