How to evaluate science communication impact using survey methods

How to evaluate science communication impact using survey methods

Author: Eric Jensen – University of Warwick, United Kingdom

Co-authors:
Eric Kennedy – Arizona State University
Joseph Roche – Trinity College Dublin
Brady Wagoner – University of Aalborg

Are you feeling uncertain about how to set up a survey-based impact evaluation of science communication events, exhibitions or activities, or looking to explore your options? Surveys can be a great tool for learning about science communication audience expectations, quality of experience and impact. However, accurate measurement of audience outcomes requires following principles of survey research methodology that have been developed over decades of research in the social sciences. This workshop presents some of the highlights from this existing body of knowledge, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different options. This event includes presentations some ‘top tips’ on how to design good questionnaires and observation-based evaluations, as well as time for discussion to address the specific challenges that attendees face. In addition, the workshop addresses the role of longitudinal methods in evaluating impacts with questionnaires. This practical workshop offers a very brief introduction to good practice in questionnaire design for science communication evaluation. This includes how to evaluate existing survey questions and develop new ones for quantitative evaluations. The workshop will be present methods and results from a number of key European science communication examples, including the European Commission-funded PERFORM project (perform-research.eu) and European Researchers Night.
The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Workshop
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices