Evaluating outreach activities: overcoming challenges through a realist ‘small steps’ approach

Harrison, Neil; Waller, Richard

Abstract

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Practitioners are being placed under increasing pressure to evaluate the success of their outreach activities, both by government and by their own universities. Based in a reductionist doctrine of ‘evidence-based practice’, there is a desire to demonstrate the effectiveness and value-for-money across activities that now account for around £175 million per year across England. This article examines some of the difficulties in evaluating the complex social world of outreach and suggests a ‘small steps’ approach to overcome some of these. This uses the idea of a transformative ‘theory of change’ as a framework for understanding the particular contribution made by discrete activities within a wider portfolio, providing a more reliable form of inference than attempts to ‘prove’ impact over longer timeframes.

Citation

Harrison, N., & Waller, R. (2017). Evaluating outreach activities: overcoming challenges through a realist ‘small steps’ approach. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 21(2-3), 81-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2016.1256353

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 31, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Dec 5, 2016
• Publication Date: Jul 3, 2017
• Journal: Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education
• Print ISSN: 1360-3108
• Electronic ISSN: 1460-7018
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 2-3
• Pages: 81-87
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2016.1256353
• Keywords: outreach, evaluation, social realism, epistemology
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/904984
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2016.1256353
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education on 05 December 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13603108.2016.1256353