A mixed methods study of Citizen's Juries of adults with intellectual disability within adult social care using social network analysis and comparative qualitative analysis

The right to vote is arguably the most important aspect of participation in democratic and political life. A politically and democratically engaged citizenry confers legitimacy on democratic institutions, strengthens participatory democracy and human rights. Participation of people with learning disabilities in elections, and engagement with their political, civil and democratic rights is low. There is no standardised approach towards social care assessment and support planning which integrates deliberative participatory capabilities and no agreed conceptual framework. Citizen's Juries, and other representative deliberative processes, have been building momentum since the 1980's as a possible way to reconnect people into public institutions, giving more permanent and meaningful ways to collectively explore and respond to of complex areas of public policy which affect their lives. Democratic participatory capabilities provide a cornerstone from which individuals develop the wider human capabilities which sustain their identity, autonomy and personhood. However, these initiatives have yet to involve people with learning disabilities beyond a project run by the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory. As argued by Marmot (2010), social and civic action to redress inequities is justifiable on economic grounds, but first and foremost is a matter of social justice. This research is important in that it sets out a four-year original study seek to inform, enhance and supplement what is known about deliberative inquiry, civic and political participation of adults with learning disabilities. There are an estimated 1.4 million people with learning disabilities in the UK, as defined in the ICD-11. The study will seek to bridge normative theory of theory and empirical research through the lens of examining whether deliberative democracy may provide a framework through which social care assessment and support planning may improve long term outcomes for adults with learning disabilities in two Local Authority areas in England, Bradford and Southend. The project design is over 3 phases following a process of Set Up and Initiation, Implementation and finally Evaluation. The project follows a multi-strategy (mixed methods) design. The research plan follows an Exploratory Design two-phase mixed methods design. This selection is coherent with deliberative democracy theory, where a plurality of research methods is well established within the emergent methodological framework. The primary methods applied are Social Network Analysis and Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The combination of both methods will enable movement between levels of analysis, aggregating data from the micro-level of individual cases to the macro-level, supporting quantitative data to be critically analysed through a case-based lens. Participants will be people with learning disabilities who have been provided with easier to read, accessible information, about the research and who have given valid consent. This project will contribute towards understanding of the phenomenon of deliberation, good and bad, within the social care research community. Improving understanding of the normative assumptions of deliberative theory, deliberative inequity of power and influence and whether and how discourse and ideas flow from one part of the health and social care system to another, or may be isolated from the system, informing emerging practice and support planning models within adult social care.