Overview

The consultancy services provided by Trutz Haase – Social & Economic Consultant – principally divides into four broad categories: Deprivation Index Construction, Health Research & Analysis, Resource Allocation Systems and Programme Evaluations.

HP Deprivation Index

Trutz Haase was the first author to develop a Census-based deprivation index for the Republic of Ireland. The index is used by a wide number of Government Departments and has been the principal source for the designation and implementation of area-based strategies to target social needs in the Republic of Ireland over the past twenty years. Jointly with Jonathan Pratschke, he has recently finalised the 2006 Pobal-Haase Deprivation Index which extends the analysis to the new census geography of Small Areas and an All-Ireland Deprivation Index which applies a single conceptual design to the North and South of Ireland.

Health Research & Analysis

Based on their extensive knowledge in predictive modelling, the application of structural equation modelling (SEM) and multilevel modelling (MLM), Trutz Haase, in co-operation with Kieran McKeown and Jonathan Pratschke, have undertaken a number of studies which pioneer the application of more advanced conceptual and statistical models in analysing Irish social data.

Resource Allocation Models

Building on the in-depth knowledge of small area social and economic statistics, the consultants have frequently been tasked with developing Resource Allocation Systems. In the public sector, these particularly involve the development of transparent systems that are based on objective measures of need and thus provide for a fair distribution of resources. In the private sector, the consultants have developed a number of branch optimisation systems, predominantly in the financial services and retail sectors.

Programme Evaluations

Trutz Haase, in association with Kieran McKeown and Jonathan Pratschke, have undertaken a number of large-scale evaluations over the past two decades which are at the forefront of best internal practise. Evaluations are firmly set in the context of evidence-based policy making and aim at the measurement of true impacts. Recognising that it is no longer enough to merely prove that there is some impact, but that this also has to be in accord with the underlying logic model that informs respective policy initiatives, the consultants have increasingly moved towards Confirmatory Programme Evaluation, a system of evaluation that tests the underlying logic model by way of translation into formalised structural equation models.

Research Methods

Trutz Haase, Dr Jonathan Pratschke and Dr Kieran McKeown specialise in the application of advanced statistical methods in social science research. Besides standard tools such as multiple regression analysis, this particularly involves the application of structural equation modelling and multilevel modelling techniques. Applyied to evaluation studies, this has lead them to adopt a framework of confirmatory programme evaluation. This section briefly outlines some of the methodological underpinnings of their research.