Welsh Government: Analysis of well-being data
Organisation/ department background
The Welsh Government is the devolved government for Wales, and is responsible for a wide
range of policy areas including:
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education
health
local government
transport
planning
economic development
social care
culture
environment
agriculture and rural affairs.
tourism
The role of the Welsh Government is to make decisions on matters regarding these areas, for
Wales as a whole, develop policies and implement them, and propose Welsh laws. Civil servants
in the Welsh Government serve Welsh Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers working on
matters devolved to Wales.
Further information on the Welsh Government is available at: http://wales.gov.uk
The intern will be based in the National Survey for Wales team, working closely with social
researchers, statisticians and policy teams. The internship will provide an opportunity to gain an
insight into the work of the Welsh Government and to apply research and statistical skills and to
further develop generic skills (such as team working, report writing, and making presentations).
Background
The National Survey for Wales is large scale, face to face survey of over 14,000 adults a year. It
provides robust information on people’s views about a wide range of issues which are of interest
to the Welsh Government. The survey includes topics such as childcare, play, internet use, esafety, media, pets, arts, museums, public services (e.g. health, education and local authorities),
material deprivation, and well-being.
We have produced some basic analysis of the survey data in first releases and in topic specific
bulletins. We’ve also produced a series of cross tabulations on our StatsWales website, and
we’ve deposited the data sets in the UK Data Archive so that other researchers can access the
data and analyse it for themselves.
Although we publish a wide range of cross tabulations of the survey data, we know that in many
cases there is not a simple causal relationship between the variables that are cross-tabulated.
Many other factors may contribute to the correlation and some apparent relationships between
variables may no longer exist once other factors are controlled for. For example, people who live
in urban areas tend to report lower levels wellbeing than people who live in rural areas. However,
after controlling for things such as health, financial strain and employment status, living in an
urban area was no longer linked with low wellbeing.
We have previously commissioned more in-depth analysis of the survey results including
regression analyses to identify what predicts different responses when other factors are
controlled for. The projects are listed below:
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Overall satisfaction with public services, 2012-13
People's views about their local area, 2012-13
Satisfaction with health services, 2012-13
Satisfaction with local authority services, 2012-13
Digital inclusion, 2012-13
Satisfaction with education, 2012-13
Wellbeing - Secondary analysis, 2012-13
We would like to be able to carry out further regression analyses for some of the other topics in
the survey to explore which personal factors (such as demographics, income, qualifications,
wellbeing, experience and views) and area-level factors (such as deprivation) are associated with
differences in survey responses.
Project brief
The aim of this project is to carry out regression analyses on the results of the National Survey
for Wales for a selection of topics.
This researcher will:
1. Identify the best regression analysis method to use for analysing relationships between
survey responses.
2. Carry out regression to identify key predictors on a range of topics1. The topics would
include a subset of the following (the exact set of topics can be discussed and agreed
taking into account the particular interests of the person appointed):
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Satisfaction with accommodation
Wellbeing (e.g. feelings of belonging to the local area; overall satisfaction with
life; longer-term expectations for life in Wales)
Use of and satisfaction with arts, museums, or heritage facilities
Pet ownership
Active travel (walking or cycling to get to a particular destination, rather than for
exercise or sport)
Use of childcare
Helping children with literacy and numeracy tasks
Satisfaction with GP, Hospital, and ambulance services
Satisfaction with care and support services
Take-up of eye tests
Use of health and social care services in Welsh
Satisfaction with local authority services
Recycling
Contact with local councillor
Overall satisfaction with the Welsh Government, the education system, and with
health services
Views on entrepreneurship (particularly, likelihood of wanting to start their own
business)
Having energy saving measures installed
Internet use
Awareness of e-Safety measures for children
3. Draft a report on the results of the regression analyses
4. Present the results of the regression analyses in a presentation
5. Run a training session with the team to demonstrate how to replicate the work in future.
The internship would last for a period of up to 3 months.
We will also consider alternative suggestions for topics from the survey. Please see the questionnaire :
http://gov.wales/docs/caecd/research/2014/140430-national-survey-questionnaire-2014-15-en.pdf
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The anticipated project outcomes
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A report which would include the following:
o A discussion of the different types of regression which could be used on the
survey data, with recommendations for the best approach to use
o A summary of the results of the regression analysis.
Annotated syntax for carrying out the analysis, including any data preparation work (e.g.
recoding of variables)
A presentation to analytical colleagues on the findings of the report.
A training session with the team to demonstrate how to replicate the work in future.
Student specification
The student must have:
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Strong data analysis skills and experience with quantitative survey data.
Experience in handling/manipulating data, in SPSS, Stata, or SAS.
The ability to produce cross-tabulations, well designed charts and to produce concise,
well written documents presenting technical material in an accessible format.
Start date of internship
1st February 2016 or a date soon after by negotiation.
Security
The Welsh Government’s vetting procedures (which apply to temporary as well as permanent
staff) involve the completion of a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) application form
and a Security Questionnaire for the process of security vetting to Counter Terrorist Check
(CTC), Security Check (SC) and Developed Vetting (DV).
Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) requires the applicant to produce in person, 3
original forms of Identification Documents, one of which should be photographic (passport,
new driving license), one document should show the current address and the third form of ID
could be an utility bill, birth certificate, P45 or P60.
Queries
Any queries relating to the application process should be directed to:
Lisa Walters (lisa.walters@wales.gsi.gov.uk)
Chris McGowan (chris.mcgowan@wales.gsi.gov.uk)
Or you can call us on: (029) 2082 6685