Evaluating violence interventions using linked administrative data: A feasibility simulation and a target trial emulation

Join the ADR England Community Catalyst: Children at Risk of Poor Outcomes group for their next webinar, focusing on evaluation using administrative data. In this session, guest speakers will describe two related studies they have completed using linked Ministry of Justice and Department for Education data.

Register for a place

Linked administrative data hold promise for improving our understanding of violence prevention – for example, by overcoming challenges with rare outcomes and exposures, and enabling geographic and temporal generalisability of findings. They can also help us generate some of the best evidence about exposure-outcome relationships when an exposure cannot be randomised.

The presentation will describe two related studies completed using linked Ministry of Justice and Department for Education data:

1. First, simulating a violence intervention, we conducted a feasibility study to assess whether the MoJ-DfE dataset could be used to identify matched control groups to evaluate violence prevention interventions, comparing two different matching methods. We will discuss a series of important factors that need to be considered in any matching study of a violence intervention and show that good individual-level matching can be achieved with a relatively small and accessible set of measures.
2. Second, we conducted a target trial emulation study to investigate the link between permanent school exclusion and subsequent serious violence perpetration. We will cover the principles of target trial emulation, practical considerations for implementation with linked administrative data, and the strengths and limitations of this approach for policy-relevant evaluation and causal research.

About the speakers

Dr Rosie Cornish 

Dr Rosie Cornish is a senior research fellow in medical statistics and epidemiology in the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, based at University of Bristol. She works on both applied and methodological research projects with a particular focus on analyses in the presence of missing data and the use of administrative and routine health data in research.

Prof Iain Brennan 

Iain Brennan is a Professor of Criminology, a chartered research psychologist and the University of Hull Institutional Lead for Open Research. Iain's research interests are in violence prevention including weapon-carrying, serious violence and domestic abuse. He is particularly interested in evaluating interventions in these areas and has led many evaluation studies incorporating randomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental designs and process evaluations.

Event details

When: Wednesday 14 October, 13:00 - 14:00

Where: Online

Cost: Free

How to register: Sign up on Ticketsource. We will email you a Zoom webinar link within three working days of registration. If you experience any problems, please email marie.greaves@swansea.ac.uk.

About the ADR England Research Community Catalyst: Children at risk of poor outcomes 

Co-funded by ADR England and Foundations – What Works Centre for Children and Families, the ADR England Research Community Catalyst: Children at risk of poor outcomes supports a growing community of researchers and analysts, with a focus on children and young people in children’s social care across the UK.

The Community Catalyst supports the use of administrative data, particularly ADR England flagship datasets, to strengthen the evidence base. A key priority is supporting and enabling the use of administrative data for evaluation, helping to understand the impact of services and improve outcomes for children and young people. This work is guided by a Research Agenda, developed through a comprehensive evidence review and national stakeholder consultation.