Being Human 2015 Evaluation Dear Being Human supporters, Evaluation is a crucial part of Being Human. It will enable us to capture the true scale and impact of the festival, help us to secure its future and help us to improve the quality and accessibility of festival events in the future. In recognition of the importance of evaluation within Being Human we have commissioned independent evaluators, Jenesys Associates Ltd, to carry out our 2015 evaluation. They have a strong track record in this type of work and have completed many successful evaluations for public engagement festivals and events across all disciplines and subject areas. They, and we, would like to capture as much feedback as possible in order for their findings to be meaningful and really need your help in doing this. Please take time to read through the attached evaluation guidance notes and take all steps to make evaluation a key part of your event planning and delivery. There are incentives on offer! I would like to thank you for your support with the evaluation. If you would like advice or have any questions about it, please contact Sarah Jenkins at Jenesys Associates sarah@jenesysassociates.co.uk or the festival team at beinghuman@sas.ac.uk Regards Being Human team 1
Being Human 2015 evaluation guidance Aims of the evaluation The Being Human 2015 evaluation has the following aims: 1. To assess the festival s performance against the stated objectives for which it received funding 2. To demonstrate the value and impact of the festival for: a. Event attendees (audiences). b. Event organisers, speakers, coordinators, volunteers and cultural and community partners. 3. To identify learning and potential improvements for future Being Human festivals or other humanities public engagement activities. 4. To develop at least 10 case studies suitable for funders and future participants. Evaluation purpose The evaluation is aiming to capture the broadest spectrum of feedback possible including positive and negative views and suggestions for improvement. It is not focused on capturing positive feedback for marketing or PR purposes. Therefore it is important that contributors are encouraged to be honest and objective in their views. Evaluation methods The evaluation will collect quantitative and qualitative data using three primary methods: 1. Audience questionnaire available in print and online versions and to be completed by event attendees 2. Audience interview short interviews with events attendees, audio-recorded using smartphones or voice recorders at events 3. Participant survey an online survey to be completed post-festival by event organisers, partners etc. N.B. Audience questionnaire respondents will be entered into a prize draw. One winner will receive a 100 online shopping voucher. Audience questionnaire Jenesys Associates have designed a simple hard copy feedback form to be completed at events (we will supply you a word version for printing locally) or as an online survey after events. It explores: Audience demographics, including background in the humanities and number of Being Human events attended How audiences heard about events Audience ratings of events, including success factors and suggested improvements Impacts on audience understanding of the humanities and their role in everyday life Whether audiences would recommend the festival or attend in the future Whether or not people want to enter the prize draw 2
Hard copy PLEASE INSERT THE RELEVANT EVENT NAME IN THE HEADER BEFORE PRINTING. To ensure that as many people as possible complete these, Jenesys Associates recommend: Using well-briefed volunteers to hand out and collect questionnaires and encourage audience members to complete them Having pens / pencils on hand for those who need them Using closing comments at events to mention the forms (and the incentive) and invite people to complete them Informing people that the evaluation is confidential and that their feedback is anonymous and they will not be identifiable in any reports Providing a post box type container where people can leave completed forms The main audience questionnaire has been designed for people age 12 and over. A version for young people age under 12 is also be provided. Please note that relevant adult permission must be sought for young people age under 16 to complete a questionnaire. Online survey The Being Human festival organisers (School of Advanced Study, University of London) will automatically send an invitation after the event to those who have registered via Eventbrite. An email link will also be sent to event organisers for circulating to audience members who register using other systems. Audience interview To complement the breadth of the audience questionnaire, which focuses on quantitative data, we are also offering Being Human audiences the opportunity to provide some more in-depth qualitative feedback through short vox-pop interviews. Jenesys Associates have developed an interview schedule featuring 5 questions which should be used for ALL audience interviews to ensure consistency and comparability of data. We appreciate that there may be some additional specific questions you may want to ask and recommend adding no more than 2 additional questions of your own. Interviews should be audio-recorded using smartphones or digital voice recorders. The audio files should be uploaded to a link which Jenesys Associates will provide as part of the interview schedule. To optimise the effectiveness and usefulness of these interviews, Jenesys Associates recommend: Using well-briefed volunteers to conduct interviews Sticking to the questions in the interview schedule NOT leading interviewees towards preferred answers Explaining that we welcome positive and negative feedback and asking people to be honest in their views Explaining that the interview will only take a few minutes of interviewees time Informing interviewees that the interview is confidential and that their feedback is anonymous and they will not be identifiable in any reports Uploading audio files as soon as possible after events 3
As with the questionnaire adult permission must be sought for young people age under 16 to be interviewed. N.B. Jenesys Associates will be attending selected events to observe them. They will also conduct audience interviews at these events. If your event is selected for an evaluation visit, we will notify you before 30 th October 2015. We recognise that there may be instances where you want to use alternative methods to gather audience feedback. Some alternatives are suggested in Appendix 1. Participant survey The evaluation will also seek to capture your experiences as participating institutions, event organisers and host institutions via an online survey. Jenesys Associates will send event organisers survey invitations 7 days after an event. Organisers will be asked to circulate this invitation to speakers, event partners, staff, students and volunteers. N.B. Jenesys Associates will be conducting post-festival telephone interviews with organisers of 20 events. If you are selected for one of these interviews, Sarah Jenkins will contact you before 30 th November 2015. Evaluation data collection deadlines 29 th October Audience questionnaire hard copy and Audience interview schedule sent to event organisers. 7 th December Audience interview audio files uploaded. Hard copy questionnaires and feedback report from alternative evaluation methods (see below) sent to Jenesys Associates. 15 th December Online surveys close (audience, organiser and participant surveys) Address for sending hard copy feedback: Jenesys Associates Ltd PO Box 80 Pontyclun CF72 9WZ Evaluation queries and questions If you have any questions about any aspect of the evaluation, please contact: Sarah Jenkins sarah@jenesysassociates.co.uk 4
Appendix 1 - Alternative evaluation methods for audience evaluation You may also want to tailor your approach to gathering data to specific events and audiences. We recognise that there may be instances in which questionnaires are not appropriate or the best means of gathering data. In these instances, we can recommend some of the following alternative methods of evaluation. They can be used instead of more traditional evaluation methods like questionnaires, or in addition to them. Quantitative Penny Drops ask a simple yes / no question by inviting people to drop tokens into colourcoded yes or no buckets at the end of an event. The question asked here should be simple and appropriate for yes / no answers, e.g. did you enjoy the event? Did you learn something at this event? Voting games which invite people to vote upon or score their event. Even a simple show of hands can be effective. Qualitative Comments Boards a helpful means of gathering qualitative comments about an event or activity can be to set a blackboard, whiteboard flip chart, or large sheet of paper on which attendees can write comments or draw feedback anonymously using pens that you provide. Having a blank page on which to scrawl can be liberating! If you like (and depending on the size of your comments board) you could write different questions in different corners to explore more than one idea. Visitors books a traditional way of gathering qualitative responses to installations and exhibitions. Word association a simple way of capturing audience understanding or feelings about a topic. Give people a post-it note or piece of paper and ask them to write down three words that come to mind when they think of humanities. Collect the post-it notes /pieces of paper. You can type the words into www.wordle.net to create word clouds. Drawings these can be useful for very young children and audience members who prefer not to write responses. You can ask a simple question like: Draw how this event has made you feel about [the topic] or draw what has amazed [or surprised] you most about this event. Whilst these additional evaluation activities will be conducted primarily for your own purposes, we would nevertheless be grateful if you could return any data gathered by these means to Jenesys Associates by midnight on 7 th December for possible inclusion in their 2015 festival evaluation report. 5