The SOCRATES – Ethos – Minimal Means, Maximum Meaning
The SOCRATES approach to Public Involvement and Co-Production (PPI CoPro) starts by recognising that academics do not know everything and that we must recognise this before we can start to learn from others. We take a proactive and reactive approach to involving the public whilst recognising the rapidity within which the evaluations must occur. We know that we can learn from ‘the public’ about everything and we aim to involve the public in guiding every stage of evaluation, from ideas to impact, to the extent that our time and resources allow.
The PPI Co-Pro Team
We have a core PPI CoPro team co-led by Jennifer Bostock, who is a public advisor with extensive knowledge of involvement and ethics (among other things), and SOCRATES Codirector, Professor Cath Larkins, Cath is an academic with experience in delivering meaningful impactful co-production in research and policymaking including in rapid evaluations in social care settings.
The Public Advisory Group (PAG)
We have a core public advisory group of 18 members, coordinated by Tamsin Walker. The diverse group have a wider range of experiences of social care.
Hi, my name is Chris! I personally got involved in the SOCRATES project as I am someone who has lived experience of services with varied outcomes. I am someone who has always been eager to want to help others and SOCRATES really felt like a journey that would allow me to accomplish this value of mine. SOCRATES has been amazing so far and it has been lovely to get to know what is being done to improve research within the field.
Chris Sims, PAG
By getting to know our advisors, their experiences, skills and passions we can offer them opportunities with mutual benefit to them and SOCRATES. Through these opportunities SOCRATES will build the skills of PAG members and PPI-CoPro capacity of the team, which the whole Socrates team can then share with others working in social care and rapid evaluation.In addition to advising on evaluations, the Public Advisory Group codesign and deliver training on coproduction for the whole Socrates team, coproduce communications and engagement activities, advise on Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and contribute to strategic direction.
The Evaluation Advisory Networks (EANs)
Up to three public advisors from the core PAG group are matched to individual evaluations based on people’s lived experience. Our PAG group is diverse and with three advisors per project the projects can all benefit from this diversity of life experiences. Each evaluation also engages with a network of relevant public and social care professionals. In each evaluation, this network of advisors works in different ways. Usually this will involve providing guidance on evaluation methods, analysis and outputs. Sometimes advisors will also become peer researchers.
Reflecting on our PPI-CoPro work
We use the ‘lattice of participation’—a way of thinking about who is sharing power in different stages of research—to reflect on and record the elements of involvement and coproduction achieved through our work. The Public Advisory Group has created a SOCRATES version of this lattice, to help team members tailor their activities to fit the needs and opportunities of individual evaluations and of the programme as a whole. It helps us try to make sure that stakeholders influence as many aspects of the evaluation as possible, within the limits of resources and time.