6. Measuring impact
Evaluations of public engagement activity have identified a range of benefits for the public and civic society. These include:
- Making people more aware of the opportunities open to them, and more empowered to take an informed part in the democratic process and the decisions affecting their lives
- Improving local services, eg schools and health provision
- Developing cultural and intellectual assets with and for the community
- Informing policy makers, which can generate more sustainable and effective policy
- Increasing opportunity by widening access to sporting facilities, libraries, museums etc
- Creating new community networks
- Offering a 'neutral ground' for the resolution of controversial issues
- Helping people learn throughout their lives, new subjects and new skills
- Expanding the resources available to tackle real life issues and problems
- Generating economic growth
We are commissioning further work to consolidate evidence about these impacts (see our research pages for more information).
Measuring engagement
We have recently published a literature review which synthesises the tools that can be used for measuring the impact of public engagement. The review identified seven 'dimensions' where engagement is known to 'make a difference' and for which measurement tools exist or are in development. You can download this review here. The review also includes a case study from Brighton University describing how they have gone about evaluating their own engagement activity.
| Dimension | High level outcomes |
|---|---|
| Public access to facilities | Increased public support; better informed public; improved health and wellbeing |
| Public access to knowledge | Increased quality of life; increased social capital/cohesion/inclusion |
| Student engagement | Impact on own learning and employability; increased sense of civic responsibility |
| Staff engagement | Institutional recognition and reward |
| Widening participation | Improved recruitment and retention, especially from excluded communities |
| Encouraging economic regeneration | Social and economic benefits to community |
| Institutional commitment | More effective strategic investment of resources and community partnerships |
From 'Auditing, Benchmarking and Evaluating Public Engagement' A.Hart (2009)
Coming soon
RCUK are currently working on a briefing paper that summarises the benefits of public engagement to the research community. Sign up for our newsletter and we'll let you know when this work is published.
Funded by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust. About our funders
1 comments
We are working on research impact indicators and your activity is very interesting for us.
Many thanks
Elena Castro, 11 October 2009 at 12:41pm
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