Overview

Data analytics has long been the ‘go to’ form of evidence in Canada, and it is indeed the most important form of evidence to understand problems and their causes, and to monitor the implementation of new or adapted programs and services. Data analytics is often conflated with the underlying data assets used by those producing data analytics reports, but such data assets can be inputs to many forms of evidence. Our focus here is timely, demand-driven data analytics, particularly data analytics that allow us to explore similarities and differences in how problems are playing out, or how new approaches are being implemented, in different provinces and territories. Check out what we call ESN-CA’s data analytics hub, which is the highly regarded Health Data Research Network led by Kim McGrail at Simon Fraser University in B.C.

Behavioural and implementation research has been a more recent ‘favourite’ among government policymakers and some system and professional leaders. This form of evidence is most helpful at the ‘implementation planning’ step, both with understanding barriers to equitably reaching those who can benefit the most and in designing implementation strategies. At ESN-CA we are focused on timely, demand-driven behavioural and implementation research, both new studies undertaken rapidly when ‘windows’ of opportunity open and rapid contextualized syntheses of what has been learned from past studies. Explore ESN-CA’s behavioural and implementation research hub being organized by Justin Presseau and colleagues at the Centre for Implementation Research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

Qualitative insights have long been undervalued in government policymaking and other types of decision-making even though this form of evidence is relevant to every stage in a policymaking or decision-making process. Qualitative insights can help inform our understanding of a problem and its causes, views about and experience with options for addressing a problem, barriers and facilitators to implementation, and how and why approaches are achieving desired impacts. It is rare to find groups providing timely, demand-driven qualitative insights. We encourage you to learn about our qualitative insights hub led by Stephanie Montesanti at the CARE Research Lab at the University of Alberta.

Evidence syntheses tell us what has been learned from all past studies addressing the same questions, including how the findings vary by groups and contexts, and with what confidence and caveats we know it. Insights from evidence synthesis can be put alongside local studies to address any step in a decision-making process. Our evidence-synthesis hub is co-led by Mike Wilson and Kerry Waddell at the McMaster Health Forum.

All four groups leading ESN-CA’s hubs have been independently providing leadership in their respective forms of evidence for some time. We are thrilled at the prospect of them working in more aligned and intentionally complementary ways in providing timely, demand-driven evidence support.

For more context about how we see these different forms of evidence adding value at different stages in the policymaking (or decision-making) cycle, we encourage you to review a brief chapter in the landmark report of the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges.