Jane Hiller

Freelance Research Consultant

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts Joint Honours (First Class) in Social Sciences, majoring in qualitative
and quantitative research methods and methodology

• Postgraduate Diploma in Social Sciences, majoring in the philosophy and sociology of

science and research methodology.

Post Qualification Employers and Positions

Date Position Employer

1996 to 1998 Business Research and Development Officer Sedgemoor District Council

1998 to 1999 Policy Officer Taunton Deane Borough Council

2000 to 2001 Research and Policy Manager Shelter South Australia

2000 to 2001 Freelance Researcher Various contracts – see below

2002 to 2003 Needs Analysis Officer Mendip District Council

2003 to 2007 Policy / Research and Intelligence Officer Sedgemoor District Council

Secondment
Research and Consultation Manager Somerset County Council
2007
Jan 2008
Freelance Research Consultant Self employed
onwards

Freelance Research and Data Commissions and related positions

• Shelter South Australia (two contracts) – 2000 to 2001

• University of South Australia (two contracts) – 2001
• State Department of Employment, Education and Training with State Department of
Human Services (jointly commissioned) – 2001
• South Australian Housing Trust – 2001
• State Department of Human Services Research Ethics Committee member – 2001
• Sedgemoor District Council – 2008
• Somerset Strategic Partnership - 2008
Ability and Skills

Qualitative Research and Community Consultation

Designing and using a wide range of qualitative techniques to gain views and promote
community engagement with policy and decision-making, including:

• Designed and carried out structured and unstructured interviews as part of numerous positions
• Developed the Older Person’s Housing Advisory Network in South Australia; a participative
community-run fora aiming to give a ‘voice’ to older people in housing policy
• Set up and ran Making Youth County in the Deane; a consultative youth forum
• Organised a series of successful public fora and exhibitions as part of several community strategic
visioning programmes
• Specialist consultation advisor for Sedgemoor District Council in the production of their Statement
of Community Involvement and Consultation Strategy

Questionnaire design

Designing and developing survey instruments for a range of research and consultation projects
including

• Sedgemoor District Council’s Budget Consultation

• Resident surveys for community regeneration areas
• Communities First in Rural Somerset business survey
• Sedgemoor Local Development Framework
• Structured interview schedules for landlords and tenants as part of ‘Round my Place’ project (case
study below)
• Unstructured interview schedules for employers and young offenders as part of STEP evaluation
project (case study below)

Evaluations

Developing, devising and carrying out project evaluations for a range of programmes and
projects including:

• STEP evaluation
• Designed the brief and monitored progress against it for the Economic Impact Assessment of the
Burnham and Highbridge Market and Coastal Towns initiative community strategic plan
• Led the evaluation and Review of the Sedgemoor Community Strategy; updated and tightened
targets and measures in line with the current plans and programmes of Local Strategic Partners.
• Evaluated the ‘match’ between targets and ‘direction of travel’ within the Sedgemoor Community
Strategy and the Somerset Local Area Agreement; work was promoted as a ‘model’ for other
Districts to utilise
• Carried out final project evaluation for the Heritage Lottery funded restoration of Brean Down Fort
Secondary data analysis

A wide range of work mining, collating analysing and presenting previously collected public and
other data/measures for numerous projects and programmes, including:

• Research project leader on attitudes to public rental research (case study below)
• Developing area and community profiles for specified geographic areas or themed disciplines
using a range of data from public and other sources, eg economic profile for Bridgwater,
demographic profiles for deprived wards in Sedgemoor, analysing health deprivation factors and
their prevalence in different geographic areas, population profiles, quality of life indicator
analysis
• Preparing supporting needs data for funding bid submissions and evaluations

Implementing data quality standards and good practise

A broad spectrum of experience and skills in incorporating principles of good practise in relation
to data and evidence basing of policy and service provision, including:

• Designed and ran seminars and presentations to newly elected Local Authority members about
how to use public data sources to build up an understanding of their area, including developing a
booklet with interactive hyperlinks.
• Designed and delivered training to various partners including housing providers, emergency
services, youth service providers about accessing data and using it effectively to monitor, evaluate
and target their work
• Designed and conducted training demonstrations on the Somerset Health and Social Needs
Analysis database to local authority officers, members and a range of other partner organisations
• Led on the Somerset Intelligence Network as part of a secondment to Somerset County Council
during 2007
• Supported the development of quality improvements in evidence basing and target setting for
Somerset Local Area Agreement and District community strategies
• Developed SMART targets for the revision of the Sedgemoor Community Strategy and eliminating
non-measurable or ambiguous targets
• Co-ordinated and write the County-wide response to the ODPM’s Blueprint consultation about the
National Indices of Deprivation in 2007
• Developed the Consultation Strategy for Sedgemoor based on good practise principles
• Co-wrote the Sedgemoor Statement of Community Involvement with principal planning policy
officers
• Designed and implemented standardised Equalities Monitoring questions and response categories
to be used on consultation exercises, based on National standards for data release as well as
good practise from Stonewall and endorsed by Equalities South West
• Served as Member of the State Department of Human Services Research Ethics committee advising
on best practise with regard to research and consultation with hard-to-reach groups
• Acting as consultant to the Somerset Strategic Partnership to develop a partnership intelligence
resource for the County
Case Studies
The following case studies provide a more
detailed outline of a selection of my experience.
Needs of the Traveller Community
In 2002, as part of my employment at Mendip
District Council, I conducted informal interviews
to assess housing support needs of the traveller
and low-impact communities in the District. This
involved negotiating visits to sites with key
workers, such as district nurses and traveller
community workers and translating the findings
into negotiations with local authority planning
officers to determine the policy implications of
the need for sites. The findings were also
developed into a user-friendly resource booklet
about the issues and needs of the traveller/low
impact community, copies of which were
disseminated to a range of front-line service
providers.
STEP Evaluation
In 2001 I was appointed to a project team from
the University of South Australia to carry out an
evaluation of the Supported Training and
Employment Project (STEP). STEP was a pilot
scheme jointly run by the state Departments of
Human Services (DHS) and Employment,
Education and Training (DEET) in South
Australia. The evaluation examined the success
of a joint training and mentoring approach to
improving employment opportunities for young
people leaving secure accommodation (i.e.
detention centres). I was responsible for the
qualitative research element of the evaluation,
which involved managing, designing,
negotiating and conducting supervised
interviews with young ex-offenders, writing up
the analysis, collating and corroborating the
qualitative findings with the other elements of the
research and evaluation, co-ordinating and
editing the final research report, and co-
presenting the findings to state Government
department representatives and sponsors.
Perceived Advantages and
Disadvantages of Private Rental
In 2001 I was appointed by the South Australian
Housing Trust (public housing body) to conduct
secondary analysis of a dataset gathered as part
of Shelter’s major piece of primary research
examining the private rental market in South
Australia. The work was commissioned with the
aim of gaining a more detailed understanding
about the perceptions of private tenants towards
living in public rented housing, with the aim of
influencing housing policy and services delivery.
Young People in Private Rental
In 2000 I was appointed as a freelance
researcher for Shelter (South Australia). I
managed and conducted the ‘Young People in
Private Rental’ research project, which resulted
in the “Round my Place” reports and learning
materials. The research was a qualitative
examination of the experiences of young
homeless people in private rental
accommodation in South Australia. The work
involved designing the project research methods
and instruments, managing, negotiating,
scheduling and conducting structured interviews
with young people, landlords and
emergency/supported housing providers,
analysing the interview results, writing the
report, negotiating with illustrator to develop a
user friendly report style which included story
board case studies. As well as the report, I
developed and implemented an extensive
marketing promotion and dissemination
programme, which included a resource pack for
landlords, clients, service providers, policy-
makers and relevant State Government
departments. I also presented the findings at the
National Australian Conference of Tenancy
Tribunals in 2000.
Jane Hiller
Freelance Research Consultant
07789 062281
info@intelligence-clearly.co.uk
www.intelligence-clearly.co.uk