Analysis tools
The HRCS is an analytical framework where assigned codes are directly linked to award funding using a standardised coding and apportionment system. This means that amounts of investment associated with specific areas of research can be analysed in a reproducible manner with no double counting of total award funds.
If you are considering recreating the UK Health Research Analysis, we recommend you begin by looking through the pages for the latest analysis in 2022, which includes:
- The 2022 Data Submission Guidelines
- The 2022 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- The 2022 Data Publicity Statement
- The 2022 Qualitative Submissions guidance
- The 2022 Data Entry Spreadsheet (xlsx format file)
We also published a paper in 2016 on the pros and cons of performing the analysis in 2014. This article is available from the journal Health Research Policy and Systems. Alternatively, you can contact us if you have further queries and we will be happy to assist you.
Analysis of award data using Excel / Power BI (2018)
If you are familiar with spreadsheets, you can perform the more basic pivot-based assessment of award data using features of Excel (via the add in Power Query) and/or Power BI. Some guidance on this is available via this draft document. We intend to produce a more formal update to this once a new analysis is approved.
Previous Analysis Tools (2009-2014)
For the analysis in 2009/10, a number of simple tools were developed to enable analysis using the HRCS, as follows:
- Data entry spreadsheet (MS Excel)
- HRCS database (MS Access) – please contact us for the required files (they are rather out of date with current versions)
- Pivot table analysis spreadsheet (MS Excel)
There are detailed explanatory comments in each of the spreadsheets. The MS Access database is used to import from the data entry spreadsheet and then export in the correct format to the analysis spreadsheet. The process is explained in this document. Please note however that as Excel and Access have been updated, it has become difficult to recreate these previous methods on more modern versions of the software.
The process was updated ahead of the analysis in 2014. A selection of guidance documents were made available including: