Download the full Evaluation Guide as a pdf documentMeasuring success
The table below provides a simple framework for assessing the benefits of participation, based on the four generic reasons why engagement is carried out.
Assessing the benefits and achievements of engagement
| Goals/purpose | Possible indicators (examples) |
How to get data (examples) |
Important assumptions (examples) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social capital and social justice | Increased equality of access to decisionmaking Developed new contacts / given access to new networks |
Demographic analysis of participants + feedback from them on the difference made by the exercise Questionnaires after engagement events; interviews later |
Social capital can be a difficult concept and is not always understood to operate beyond the local level but the importance of increasing access to different people and new networks does work at national level. |
| Improved quality of services / projects / programmes | Costs saved bypeople taking more responsibility for service outcomes and making less demand (e.g. healthy living) Quicker decisions by avoiding conflict |
Feedback from doctors and patientsthrough surveys, polls etc. Collecting costs of dealing with conflict (e.g. complaints, objections, campaigns etc) |
It is difficult to separate the impacts of engagement from other elements of service improvement. The costs of conflict are rarely recorded, so data would have to be collected from scratch |
| Capacity building and learning | Greater awareness and understanding of the issues More confidence and willingness to get involved in future |
Questionnaires with participants after the process and follow-up interviews later Questionnaires with participants before and after the process and follow-up interviews later |
These are relatively straightforward issues to test with participants before, during and after the process |