Evaluation is a vital part of any research project, programme, or event, however big or small. It can help build knowledge, inform future ways of working, and help you realise your aims more effectively. This section of the resource introduces some of the evaluation and planning models that we use in Arts and Culture, as well as examples from the wider cultural sector.


In this section you will find information on planning the evaluation of creative activity, projects and programmes. 

Planning Your Evaluation 

Developing a Framework (model) is a great way to organise and structure your evaluation. 

Developing Your Evaluation 

Evaluation Guides

### Can't find what you're looking for? 
Get in touch with the team and let us know, we still may be able to help you: [artsandculture@exeter.ac.uk](mailto:artsandculture@exeter.ac.uk)

*© Copyright Arts and Culture, University of Exeter 2024. All rights reserved.*

In this section you will find information on planning the evaluation of creative activity, projects and programmes. We'll interchangeably use the terms "outcomes" and "value creation" to refer to the intended difference a creative activity, session, or space is expected to make.

Intro

### Meaningful Evaluation 

Evaluation is plays a crucial role in arts and culture by helping to understanding the value created from the experiences and interactions that occur in creative spaces

It's important to include evaluation at the beginning when planning any creative activity, project, or programme. By thinking about it early in the process, it taps into the collaboration and connection that typically arises when planning and delivery of creative sessions, benefiting everyone involved. This keeps assumptions in check, improves engagement and leads to outcomes and value creation that truly matters to people because they’ve been heard and involved along the way. When individuals are involved in key stages to shape the aims, methods and share the findings, it can create more meaningful evaluation measures and understanding.

Good evaluation means planning, designing, and carrying out the process while keeping everyone involved in mind. It helps when it is based on a clear, shared framework and reflects the aims of the creative activity/project.


Meaningful evaluation 

### Value Beyond Numbers
It is becoming more important to go beyond simply monitoring and reporting. This means capturing more than the number of participants, activities and outputs. It involves sharing stories that illustrate the outcomes and value created. That is not to say we don’t need numbers, rather that the stories give the numbers context. Together they can tell a meaningful story about the difference the creative space made. Consider qualitative, narrative and storytelling data collection as equally significant as quantitative. 

### Why are you evaluating?

Before you consider how to evaluate and what to evaluate, it’s essential to first understand why you are evaluating. Think about the purpose of the evaluation - what do you and the stakeholders involved want to find out. This will help you clarify the aims and objectives for the evaluation. 

Why are you evaulating 

why are you evaulating 

### Who Is The Evaluation For?
There are often multiple and diverse people to consider when thinking about who your evaluation is for. It’s worth considering whose aims, experiences your evaluation needs to include and where there is flexibility.  Who is involved in making it happen? What do they need the information for? What are their priorities? What would be useful to them? Here’s a list of stakeholder or individuals who could benefit from the evaluation (though it’s not exhaustive)


Who is the evualution form 

who are you evaluating for

Once you know what your evaluating and for whom, you'll need to consider how you are going to evaluate e.g. what methods and frameworks you may use. Take at look at our ['Developing Your Evaluation'](https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/resources/get-creative/developing-your-evaluation) section for guidance on this including methods we've used previously. 

*© Copyright Arts and Culture, University of Exeter 2024. All rights reserved.*


End paragraph

Developing a Framework (model) is a great way to organise and structure your evaluation. They are a valuable tool that provides a place to plan and map out all the elements of the evaluation and how the creative activity will achieve the intended outcome and value creation. Examples of such frameworks include the Logic model, Theory of Change and the Social Learning Framework by Wenger-Trayner.

It is worth taking some time to work with as many stakeholders as you can to complete your framework. It helps to establish a shared language and reflects everyone’s understanding of 
the intended outcomes and other aspects of how the creative activity will be evaluated. 

This section of the resource introduces some of the evaluation and planning models that we use in Arts and Culture, as well as examples from the wider cultural sector.


Evaluation frameworks will help to:

Frameworks typically detail the following: 

__From this you can then start to work on your questions and methods that you will use to collect the data.__ 

### Developing Your Evaluation Questions 
It’s important to map your questions to the intended outcomes of the creative activity and project. Outcomes can be immediate, short-term, mid-term and long-term. 
For long-term outcomes you may want to follow up with participants six months after the end of the creative session to understand impact. 


Developing your evaluation questions 

### Developing Your Evaluation Methods 

The methods that you choose will be dependent on key considerations:

Developing your evalutation methods

- Resources and expertise available.
- They should be right for the participants  – language, accessibility etc (refer back to your assumptions and challenges).
- The scale of the project and number of sessions/activities 


- Ethical, Rigorous and Proportional - LINK TO MORE INFO
- Quantitative and qualitative approaches are the primary ways of collecting data. The methods complement each other, and combining them using a mixed methods approach adds valuable context and deepens understanding. Together, they are more powerful in demonstrating the impact of being in a creative environment.

### Theory of Change 
Theory of Change is a planning tool that helps ensure a direct relationship between your activities and your objectives. It is surprisingly easy for strategic planning to exist in one realm, and the dreaming up of creative projects to exist in another. There should always be a clear rationale for why you have chosen to work with a particular audience, using a particular artform, and producing particular outputs. An exhibition might not always be the right answer to your question.

The beauty of Theory of Change is that it starts at the end (what do you want to achieve?) and works backwards (what are you going to do?). All the way along, you are testing the logic of your project structure, which brings clarity to why you have chosen specific creative activities. 

For example, if my goal is to increase awareness of crafting with others as a route to improved well-being, I would devise activities that were informal, welcoming, social, and about the process of spending time together; if my goal is to improve the hand-sewing skills of fashion students, I would devise activities that were structured, technical, and output-focussed. Each project would have different evaluation needs – What was the impact on awareness, if any? How were skills improved, if at all?

There are plenty of Theory of Change templates online, we particularly like these ones: 


The Theory of Change 

Theory of Change templates 

### Benefits Realisation
Theory of Change has its roots in social practices. If you are interested in project planning tools more generally, Benefits Realisation is a similar process, and can also be useful to build a strong relationship between outputs and benefits.


Benefits Realisation

Benefits realisation

### Social Learning

In Arts and Culture, we have adopted the Social Learning framework to evaluate our programmes. It was devised by Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner (2011, 2019), who have [written extensively on communities of practice](https://www.wenger-trayner.com/publications/), boundary objects, and social learning. 

The Social Learning framework measures change through the lens of value creation. We like it because it aims to capture change over time, spanning an individual’s direct experience (such as participating in a workshop) with longer-term impact (such as using the learning from the workshop in another context, or bringing about a shift in mindset). Metrics for ‘the self’ include immediate value, potential value, applied value, and realised value. Metrics for ‘the self and others’ include strategic and enabling value, with the most ambitious change being transformative value, considering ‘the self in the world’. 

We were inspired by the work of [Exeter Education Incubator](https://www.exeter.ac.uk/about/educationincubator/), who used the Social Learning framework to evaluate their programme in 2021 – [this blogpos](https://uoeeduinc.blog/2021/09/27/5-lab-blog-how-do-we-know-we-are-creating-value/)t, by Professor Sarah Dyer, gives a very useful overview of how they put the framework into action. 

__References__

Wenger, E., Trayner, B., and de Laat, M. (2011) *Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks: a conceptual framework*. Rapport 18, Ruud de Moor Centrum, Open University of the Netherlands.

Wenger-Trayner, B. and Wenger-Trayner, (2019) *Designing for change. Using social learning to understand organisational transformation*

## Culture Sector

The following frameworks have been influential in the cultural sector, informing evaluation models used by Education and Learning departments in museums and galleries.

### Generic Learning Outcomes
Devised in 2008 as part of the Inspiring Learning for All initiative, the GLOs have been an influential tool for discussing the value of arts engagement. Key metrics are: Knowledge and Understanding; Skills; Attitudes and Values; Enjoyment, Inspiration and Creativity; Activity, Behaviour and Progression. [Find out more ->](https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/resources/tools-and-frameworks/inspiring-learning-all-generic-learning-outcomes) 

### Creative Habits of Mind Wheel

Arts Wales Creative Mind Wheel - [Find out more ->](https://arts.wales/sites/default/files/2018-12/Creative_Habits_of_the_Mind.pdf)

A Five Dimensional Model of Creativity and its Assessment in Schools. [Find out more ->](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305218451_A_Five_Dimensional_Model_of_Creativity_and_its_Assessment_in_Schools)


## Can't find what you're looking for?
Get in touch with the team and let us know, we still may be able to help you: [artsandculture@exeter.ac.uk](mailto:artsandculture@exeter.ac.uk)
