Options for Consideration
Collecting useful data:
- Review and revise the Victorian Disability Advocacy Program quarterly data collection
Avoiding duplication errors:
- Ensure that people are only counted once, in the most relevant category, and are not counted again in subsequent reporting.
Streamlining collection of personal characteristics:
- Only collect personal characteristics of people receiving individual disability advocacy support
- Provide options for recording when personal characteristics are not present, or are not identified
- Clarify whether the intention is to collect data on sex, gender identity, or sexuality and revise this question accordingly
- Consider recording more evenly spaced age ranges
- Consider asking clearer questions about cultural status, such as country of birth or language spoken at home.
- Change the method of recording geographic location to be less onerous and more consistent
- Review the appropriateness and method of reporting types of disability
- Consider submitting disaggregated data
Reporting advocacy issues:
- Review the categorisation of disability advocacy issues, and provide guidance on how to interpret them
- Explore alternative options for collecting data on systemic, group and self-advocacy
- Consider measuring the number of ‘advocacy cases’ undertaken by disability advocacy organisations
- Consider ways to measure service intensity, such as the length of time taken to complete advocacy cases
Reporting organisational activities:
- Review the appropriateness and suitability of data collected on organisational activities.
- Consider whether data can be publicly reported in aggregated form
- Consider whether useful measures of service demand can be reported, such as data on waiting lists or requests for service.
- Discuss options for measuring outcomes, recognising potential difficulties.
Improving data integrity:
- Consider additional mechanisms for checking the integrity of data submitted
- Consider electronic data submission
