This research briefing responds to Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub work on data devolution, transparency, and place productivity. Building on this existing research, it argues that current UK data infrastructures do not yet accommodate the heterogeneous forms of qualitative data on which local, regional and national policymakers increasingly rely. To meet the demands of evidence-informed, place-based decision-making, especially in the context of the Pride in Place and New Towns agenda, organisations require frameworks that address how qualitative data is generated, connected, and used. The brief draws on empirical research into the practices of data observatories and the experiences of data users to outline these needs, proposing a model for a qualitative data observatory that can support the democratic, strategic, and evidence-led requirements of policymakers.
“Data is never neutral or self-evident but always socially constructed and context-dependent. This perspective also highlights the relevance of community research, where the processes of generation, connection, and use are themselves politically significant.”
Dr Joseph Owen
A qualitative data observatory must attend to the collection of data, the conditions under which communities participate in its production, and how data is subsequently interpreted and deployed in decision-making.
Meet the author
Dr Joseph Owen
Joseph is a research fellow at the University of Southampton, working in the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities (SIAH).
Joseph has led projects including ‘Poetry, Policy and Place’, ‘Feeling Towns’, and ‘Neighbouring Data’, the last of which explores the role of qualitative data in place-based decision-making.
Joseph is Co-Director of the Centre for Modern and Contemporary Writing (CMCW) and a specialist policy officer for Public Policy Southampton (PPS). He writes arts, film, and literary criticism.