Bairns' Hoose Pathfinder Phase – Research Report

2. Methodology

This research is part of the Analysis workstream and explores the operation of Bairns’ Hoose partnerships during the Pathfinder phase. The overall aim of the research is to provide the Scottish Government with timely and robust learning to inform decision making, as well as to inform the development of Bairns’ Hoose national guidance for the implementation of the next phases of the programme. In addressing this aim, the research explored implementation with key professionals across partnerships with a particular focus on facilitators and challenges, and learning for the future.

Research aims

Overall, this research aims to provide learning around:

• The starting position of partnerships in terms of organisational structures and collaboration; local workforce; local context and geography; and Standards implementation
• Partnerships’ priorities and key actions during the Pathfinder phase: how have they been developed, how are they related to the local context; have these changed over the duration of this phase and how; what the priority outcomes for the actions identified are
• Barriers and facilitators of setting up local Bairns’ Hooses
• The position of partnerships towards the end of the phase in terms of implementation of planned activities, achievement of Standards, and identified outcomes, including outcomes for children and young people.

A full set of research questions guiding this research are included in Appendix A.

Partnerships included in this research

Originally, this research was intended to be conducted with the six Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinders – Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Fife, North Strathclyde, the Outer Hebrides, and Tayside. However, given the evaluation work already underway in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire by the University of Edinburgh, and to minimise repetition and reduce burden on professionals, the decision was taken not to carry out qualitative fieldwork with Bairns’ Hoose partners in these two Pathfinders. Instead, learning from these partnerships has been incorporated via their Standards Self-Assessment and Readiness Tool (StART) submissions, and the University of Edinburgh research reports.

The scope of this research was then widened to include two Affiliate partnerships with a Bairns’ Hoose site delivering Bairns’ Hoose services - the Sycamore Centre (covering Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian) and Highland.

Data sources

This report triangulates data from a range of sources:

• Qualitative group discussions and interviews with professionals working as part of or partnering with a Bairns’ Hoose
• Standards Self-Assessment and Readiness Tool (StART) Pathfinder submissions. StART is a tool developed to support Pathfinders track and report their implementation of the Bairns’ Hoose Standards, identify successes and areas where further improvement is needed. The tool aims to provide a national picture of the implementation of the Standards across Pathfinder partnerships. It has been submitted by Pathfinders in February 2024 (StART1) and August/September 2025 (StART2)
• StART1 report by Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice
• Grant funding reports provided by the Scottish Government for period 2024-2025 covering the Pathfinder and Affiliate Funds, the Thematic Fund, and the Development Fund. The reports were developed by Impact Funding Partners
• Bairns’ Hoose reports on implementation in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire produced by the University of Edinburgh.

Data across all sources were analysed together using a single codeframe (see section below). Please note that findings are not generally attributed to specific data sources as part of this report, apart from where it is relevant to note that findings are only based on one source.

Qualitative fieldwork

In total, 57 professionals involved in Bairns’ Hoose took part in focus groups/ interviews. This included Bairns’ Hoose leads and a range of partners from the police, health, social work, education, and third sector support organisations. The numbers engaged from each partnership varied between 8 and 11 professionals.

Sampling and recruitment

The Ipsos research team invited a range of professionals to take part in the research, ensuring representation of different roles and organisations. Participants were recruited on an opt-in basis, meaning that where professionals were unable or did not wish to take part, additional professionals were invited in their place.

Fieldwork

Qualitative fieldwork took place between March and August 2025. All discussions were facilitated by a member of the Ipsos research team and took place remotely via MS Teams. These consisted of small group discussions (up to five participants) comprising participants from individual Bairns’ Hoose partnerships and individual depth interviews. While participants were invited to a group discussion in the first instance, interviews were offered as an alternative in cases where this was practically challenging to arrange or participants expressed a preference for this.

Focus groups and interviews were semi-structured, meaning that the researcher used a discussion guide (see Appendices B and C) to ensure a variety of topics were covered but discussion was also open for participants to share what they felt was important about their experiences of Bairns’ Hoose.

Analysis

The research team coded the primary qualitative data into a codeframe in MS Excel, along with information from the StART2 submissions and the grant reports. The codeframe included the Bairns’ Hoose Standards and other key topics explored in the qualitative research discussions (columns), and the data sources (rows). The codeframe was used as the primary tool for analysis and reporting, as researchers used it to interrogate themes in the data across all sources.

It is important to note that data taken from StART2 submissions and included in the codeframe were focused on the differences compared to the StART1 submissions. This was to avoid repetition of the StART1 analysis conducted by Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice and ensure a focus on progress.

Due to the timing of receipt of the University of Edinburgh reports on Bairns’ Hoose in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, these were not inputted into the codeframe. Instead, the Ipsos research team noted key points as part of the analysis process.

Report structure and conventions

The report uses the term ‘partnership’ to refer to all Pathfinder and Affiliates included in this research. Please note that from hereon, children and young people will be referred to using the acronym ‘CYP’.

Quotes from professionals who took part in qualitative interviews or group discussions do not include attributions. This is to maintain the anonymity of participants. All quotes are taken from qualitative interviews unless stated otherwise.

The remainder of this report is structured as follows:

Chapter 3 Overview of partnership funding: gives an overview of funding allocated and spend.

Chapter 4 Progress on Standards: provides a general overview of progress among the Pathfinders based on the StART2 self-assessment data.

Chapters 5-13 explore the progress, facilitators and challenges reported by partnerships in relation to key areas of Bairns’ Hoose.

Chapter 14 Views on the national guidance: summarises views on the national guidance shared by professionals as part of qualitative interviews.

Chapter 15 Conclusions: draws together key themes from the research, including suggestions from partners on the future development of Bairns’ Hoose.

This research was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the international quality standard for Market Research, ISO 20252.