Ten questions to ask if you're writing a scrutiny report #1: What is the scope of the report?

“Be clear about what it is you are seeking to achieve and narrow the scope as far as possible.”

Salena Whatford - Scrutiny Manager, London Borough of Lewisham

A scrutiny exercise can be triggered by a number of events.  An external initiative may put pressure on an authority to look into one area of its services.  Public pressure may have led councillors to ask for scrutiny.  A member may have simply got a bee in their bonnet about something.

 

(with thanks to Eddy Crosby, http://www.eddycrosby.com/)

 

Define the scope of your report as clearly as possible, as soon as possible.  The great danger is that your range of concerns will expand out of control: in terms of time (“How many years of statistics will we look at?”), geography (“Will we examine one ward or borough, or all of them?”) or social dimensions (“Are we interested in all users of a service or only one key target group?”).

The key is to ask yourself what outcomes you’re looking for.  All too often, scrutiny gets no further than ‘looking into something’.  It’s not enough merely to ask whether a service is adequate, or how some aspect of community life has developed over the past ten years.  Scrutiny should be forward-looking.

One way to focus the scope of your scrutiny is to create a hypothesis. 

 

What is a hypothesis? 

It’s a statement predicting the outcome of proposed actions.  It’s probably best expressed as a statement in the form:  ‘If…, then…’

Why do we need a hypothesis? 

The aim of producing a hypothesis is to focus the review on creating specific outcomes.

What does a hypothesis look like? 

Think of a hypothesis as a recommendation that you haven’t yet proved.  By creating a hypothesis, you set yourself a clear challenge: you now have a clear idea what questions to ask, what evidence to look for, and how you might go about arguing your case. 

(You may find that you have to argue against your hypothesis, of course; that’s one of the options a hypothesis must offer, if it is to be a genuine hypothesis and not merely a statement of faith.)

A hypothesis will probably have the following key features.

■   It’s written in the form of a concise statement.

■   It reflects a position being taken by you, the scrutiny team.

■   It’s arguable, and a contrary position can be taken.

■   It requires research to determine whether or not it is valid.

■   It’s a significant matter for your community.

■   It deals in variables: actions that can be taken, effects that will result from such actions.

■   It’s not written in the first person.

■   It can be tested: the relationship between actions taken and effects can be measured.

 

How do we create a hypothesis? 

 One way is to conduct a focussing exercise. 

Draw a sequence of three boxes.  In the first box, write down the subject of the scrutiny: what you are looking at, as clearly expressed as possible.  Think of the subject as something like a title.

Now, ‘pull focus’ to create a topic for the scrutiny.  Write your topic in a second box.  The topic is the ‘angle’ from which you are looking at the subject.  The simplest way to create a topic is to write a phrase beginning with the word ‘how’ or ‘why’.

 Finally, draw a third box and refine your topic into a true hypothesis: a statement that you will be seeking to prove or disprove in the scrutiny.

 

 

Can you give me an example?

Sure.

You might be seeking new ways to address health inequalities in your area.  Recent government policy may have been to commission health services from the voluntary sector.  Such initiatives may have already begun to affect the provision of services in your authority. 

In this case, the subject box might say:

Subject:

Addressing health inequalities

The topic box might say:

Topic:

How commissioning services from the voluntary sector can affect health inequalities

And your hypothesis box might say:

Hypothesis:

If voluntary health organisations were to address health inequalities more explicitly in their work, health inequalities would decrease.

Now you have an idea you can test.  You can look for evidence to support or refute it; you can ask expert witnesses for testimony for or against it; you can construct an argument one way or the other.   

Planning is the process of answering the question: 'What do we want to say in our report?'  The hypothesis is a statement that will guide you in answering that question.

In the next posting, we shall look at the second of our ten questions:  'What questions did we ask?'

If you like what you see here, you might like to contact me to discuss working with you.  I am currently working with one of the scrutiny team of a major local assembly in the UK.  I run training courses, and coach individual writers.  I can even give you some feedback on the reports your team is producing, if you want nothing more.  Go to my website to take a look at a sample training programme.