Oxford Insights
“This independent evaluation of the ADR UK programme has been vital for us taking stock not just on where – but how – we have been successful. It has also allowed us to focus on how we can deliver even more public benefit in an economically sustainable way moving forward.”
— Emma Gordon, Director of ADR UK
ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK) is a partnership dedicated to improving access to linked administrative data for research that informs policymaking on some of the UK’s most pressing societal challenges. Oxford Insights conducted a mixed methods midterm evaluation of the partnership and found that ADR UK delivers significant public value, with every £1 spent on the programme producing an estimated £5.05 worth of benefits.
The challenge
As ADR UK reached the midpoint of its funding period in 2024, it sought an independent mid-term evaluation to:
- Assess how well it was meeting its goals and explore ways to maximise the remaining investment (and beyond)
- Gauge the economic value generated so far
- Identify better methods for tracking progress moving forward
Our approach
We partnered with Lateral Economics to deliver a mixed methods evaluation, beginning with an in-depth review of ADR UK’s theory of change and evaluation framework. From there, we analysed ADR UK’s progress to date through a combination of:
- interviews with academic researchers and government stakeholders close to the partnership;
- surveys circulated amongst academics, data owners, and government data analysts and policymakers;
- bibliometric analysis, using Overton.io to track mentions of ADR UK and ADR UK funded research in policy papers worldwide; and,
- economic analysis, which drew upon a combination of interview insights and existing literature to determine a methodology for valuing linked administrative data funded by ADR UK.
Our impact
Overall, the evaluation found that ADR UK is a beneficial investment which is returning significant value to both government and academic researchers. We conservatively estimated that the partnership has a partial benefit-cost ratio of 5.05 to date, meaning every £1 spent on the programme produces an estimated £5.05 worth of benefits.
ADR UK is using our evaluation to guide its ongoing monitoring and evaluation work, and invited us to talk about our findings at an event regarding the future of the partnership in December 2024.
A summary report detailing these findings, alongside a set of recommendations for ADR UK to ensure it gets the most value out of upcoming investment years, is available here.
