| 1. Deciding on the indicators |
Identify one lead agency or organization to ensure national coordination of activities. Establish a Data Specifications Working Group with members from each participating jurisdiction. Experts determining indicator feasibility should be well-versed in their jurisdiction’s administrative data systems, sources, and linkage capacity.
|
| 2. Indicators specifications |
Develop a detailed indicators specifications document which can be used by all sites to guide data abstraction and analyses. The document should be a “living” document, managed by the lead agency to reflect current consensus decisions and rationales. Seek and facilitate external consultation where possible (e.g. government, research and policy agencies, advocacy groups, etc.).
|
| 3. Data access |
This process should be led or overseen by the provincial data experts. The ethics and data access applications process differ across jurisdictions. Nonetheless, the team should work towards a common, realistic deadline for data abstraction.
|
| 4. Data analyses |
Establish clear communication streams between those abstracting and analyzing the data and those who developed the indicator specifications. If one jurisdiction faces an analytic problem that is not covered in the indicator specifications document, take care to assess whether the resolution to that issue will affect the analytic work in the other jurisdictions. Ensure the team has agreed upon a standardized file format to simplify multi-jurisdiction data merging after analyses are complete.
|
| 5. Compilation and interpretation of results |
Invite health professionals, people with lived experience, and other experts in service delivery and local/provincial policy to assist with data interpretation alongside researchers. A detailed technical report describing the methodology should be sufficient to permit replication of the work.
|
