Change must come: mixing methods, evidencing effects, measuring impact

ABSTRACT

In recent years, impact has become an important evaluation metric for creative practice researchers. It is no longer enough to claim that creative practice has intrinsic rewards, the assumption is that it will also affect change in some form or another. Yet, the means for evidencing impact are poorly understood, while the relatively short lifespan of a creative project can mean that there is often little opportunity to evaluate the long-term effect (or impact) of creative practice. To explore this gap, a case study of DeClick, a participatory arts project in the Netherlands, was employed. This study shows that by adopting a ‘theory of change’ approach, not only does it set out clear intentions for the project, but an analysis of underlying assumptions that link activities to impact leads to effective activity design and provides evidential methodology for evaluating project success. Subsequently, a mixed-methods approach is shown to evaluate impact in a way that values participation in creative practice as a meaningful experience. The approach explored through the case study acknowledges the challenges of evidencing long term impact. But also shows it is possible to evidence ‘pathways to impact’ using a social return on investment model for impact evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• Impact
• social
• pathways
• creative
• practice
• research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 De Rijdende Popschool (DRP) in Dutch.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Djamila Boulil

Djamila Boulil comes from a Dutch and Algerian background. She has a bachelor in sociology and a master in cultural leadership. Her research focusses on organisational networks in the arts, with a focus on peripheral areas. A firm believer of the benefits of mixed methods, she uses quantitative, qualitative, and social network methods of analysis in her work. She teaches part-time at the University of Groningen, helping a new generation of art professionals acquire technical skills. The other parts of the year she runs her own impact agency, helping current art professionals prove the wonderful effects their projects have on their surrounding social environment.

Roy Hanney

Roy Hanney is employed as an Associate Professor at Solent University and Course Leader for their Media Production programme. With over twenty years higher education teaching experience he specialises in story, documentary, drama and transmedia production. His research interests include project-based learning and live projects which has formed the basis for a PhD at Portsmouth University. He works collaboratively with other organisations within the Solent area to promote opportunities for engagement with media practice, talent development and creative industries networking.