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Section 3 Issues and concerns in research and consultation

3.09 Feedback from service users in rural areas

Organisations working in rural areas or where the numbers of service users are small or dispersed across a wide area may feel that they face particular challenges in gathering service user views.

Part of the problem comes from the over-reliance on quantitative methods which tend to give more weight to the views of the larger number of responses and often overlook the small number of cases or ‘outliers’ in certain categories. This is a particular issue in rural areas and other areas where there are small sub-groups within a larger population which are seen as ‘hard-to-reach’.

Greater use of qualitative and participatory methods will address some of these issues and help organisations to understand the diversity and validity of the particular views of individual and small groups of service users. The need to make research and consultation as inclusive as possible is relevant in both urban and rural areas and is related also to the issue of the ease with which minority views can be overlooked in research or sidelined in analysis and reporting.

There is also a need to make the best use of existing information and contact opportunities to maximum effect by using them to also gather views on service quality. This is as true of organisations in urban as in rural areas. It is likely to be more efficient and to enhance the timeliness and quality of the data collected.

There is no technical fix for organisations working in rural areas. The tools and techniques in this guidance are suitable for use in any context. Some may lend themselves to use over dispersed areas, such as postal surveys, whilst others are suitable for use with small groups and to enhance the depth of knowledge and understanding of particular perspectives.

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