Tag Archive for: qualitative data

DATA DRIVEN DECISIONS

/in , /by

June is a busy month for our team as it is when we make all the data-driven decisions for the National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) funded by the Arts Council.

We offer an affordable service to help organisations collect all the data they need during the year for the Arts Council. We also help them import it into the funder’s portal, which opens between April and June. Whilst we are then  assembling all of the data, ready to fill in the portal, we analyse and report on all the data for the organisations, to enable them to make data-driven decisions. This is when we bring the data to life. Our data-driven decisions take the form of a team presentation followed by a report. We share trends shown over time, outputs, audience information and artist voices. We anonymise and share any staff issues and also provide staff and board demographic profiles. We look at ideas and spaces where organisations could shout about the great work they are doing (or do more of) alongside ways to improve. Some include practical operational tips to make sure organisations are using their limited resources and limited staffing in the best possible way, i.e. the most efficient way. The beauty of these presentations is that they are data-led and we don’t know what we will find until we analyse the information.

What is an NPO? The Arts Council explains “National Portfolio Organisations are leaders in their areas, with a collective responsibility to protect and develop our national arts and cultural ecology. Public investment brings public accountability, for us and for the organisations we invest in, and this is reflected in our expectations.”

Organisations do have to be accountable in terms of detailed data. It can be quite tricky to understand the requirements too, for example, in 2024/2025 there have been a lot of changes, with the launch of a new system for one part of data collection, called ‘Illuminate.’

The Evaluator has been offering this service for a number of years, and our NPO cohort has grown significantly since 2023. We love working with arts organisations to make sure we figure it out for them. The Arts Council is keen for organisations to use their own data more, so it’s a win-win relationship.

Are you  an NPO organisation who has recently been through a challenging time in finding data, assembling the right information and putting all your data into the portal when it opened? If so then why not give us a call? We might be able to help you and it is much better value than you might expect. In fact, our packages have a standard cost of £2,400 plus VAT each year. You can call us on 01756 532 538 or email info@theevaluator.co.uk

If you are interested in this idea but are not quite sure you want to talk yet, then why not join our mailing list?

The Evaluator Mailing List

The Evaluator Mailing List, for updates and newsletters.

Please wait...

<span style="color: #339966;">Thank you for signing up. If you'd like to get in touch directly please email info@theevaluator.co.uk</span>

We only mail out about 3 newsletters per year, so you definitely won’t feel bombarded, but it is a great way to keep in touch and learn about our approach to evaluation and data in general.

Capturing impact in people’s own words

/in /by

At The Evaluator we recognise the value of collecting qualitative information for our evaluations. We take pride in capturing the genuine impact our projects or organisations have on individuals through hearing about their experiences in their own words.

The questions we ask are often simple and open to encourage individuals to speak honestly and let their stories unfold naturally. We feel privileged to get to hear about the amazing feedback and stories from people, and we love to share these stories with our clients.

We would also like to share some genuine quotes with you, spoken by real people who have experienced the impact from some of our clients:

We have heard from volunteers

“I truly appreciate everything the team does throughout the year to keep things moving forward. Thank you for helping to make so many people feel empowered, and seeing all of the work being done leaves me feeling so much hope for the future. Thank you for shining a light on all that can be done to make live music more accessible and equitable!” – Volunteer

“That was the biggest opportunity I’ve been given and that changed my life” – Volunteer

“It is such a joy and has made a really positive impact on my life. It has even changed the direction of my career” – Volunteer

 

We have also heard from participants

 

“For my general health I consider [client] more important than the NHS” – Participant of a wellbeing service

“[Client] has just been a godsend for me. Absolute Godsend” – Participant of a wellbeing service

“I really enjoyed the course as I love art and it also gave me a push to get out of the home and socialise more thus contributing to my wellbeing. Thank you”  – Participant of an Arts project

Thank you for the opportunity. Since starting with [project] I’m growing in self confidence and feel like I’m getting my life in order again. I’m putting plans in place and I’m more optimistic for my future.” – Participant of an Arts project

 

If you’re interested in learning more about our evaluation processes or exploring how we can help your organisation measure its impact, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’d love to chat!

Learning about data; Working with qualitative data

/in /by

From time to time, we share a director’s blog post, where we share some learning about how to use your data (information) better. This is a post all about how to use qualitative data, that’s the information that is made up of words rather than numbers.

The chances are that your organisation already has a bank of this data but it may not be well organised and easily accessible. Below is a list of some of the many ways you might have collected qualitative data, possibly without realising it.

How credible is your qualitative data?

There is a distinction between primary and secondary data and it’s important to understand what you have collected as the credibility differs between the two.  Primary data is more credible and robust.  It is the data that people told you or have written themselves.  Secondary data is that which is overheard in discussion or something that someone has heard and told you about.

To check the credibility of your secondary data, you can apply the Rule of 3. If you’ve heard it from 3 different places or if it’s come from 3 different people independently then it can be considered as credible and representative of a thought or opinion.

How to make the qualitative data more usable? 

We use word or phrase frequency analysis to evaluate our qualitative data to look for patterns of frequency of words to identify common themes.  This can be done online using free tools, like this one,  and they just count the words for you.  We often use the top 10 words or phrases.  You can also use the ratio of positive to negative words that are used or how far down the feedback the first negative word appears.  Using these methods helps to quantify data and make it more digestible and can be used in marketing or to track changes over time.

Mind maps can be useful to illustrate and develop on the themes identified. You can just draw these freehand to have a look at what the main themes are.

Word clouds provide a visual representation at a glance of the qualitative data and this is also a resource that can be sourced freely online.  The most common words appear the biggest in the cloud, making this data easier for the reader to understand visually.

Top tip – try to be objective, it can be hard to hear negative comments but it is how we improve and know what to fix, and they’re often in the minority compared to positive comments.

How to use and share qualitative data?

This data can be used in many different ways:

We also use qualitative data to create case studies which illustrate people’s journeys and direct engagement.  Case studies can be shared at board level and to show case your project’s work for marketing purposes.  Case studies appeal to a wide audience and are particularly useful in attracting funders as voices are recorded and reflected in these studies.

In our experience as evaluators, a case study from a project that we evaluated got shared with funders (Green Recovery) who sent it on to The National Lottery Heritage Fund who then sent it on to the Department of Work and Pensions.  Case studies are impactful in that they record real voices and can attract publicity and raise awareness of change.

 

If all of this sounds like too much work and you don’t have time, get in touch. We are happy to have a chat about your individual requirements and to see how we could help.