What are the Advanced Impacts?

• Actual Changes in Participation Behaviour
• Quantified Participation Increase

Overview & Considerations

Measuring the impact of an event in changing actual participation behaviour (ie beyond the inspirational impact) is a challenging task. Research will need to be longitudinal in nature, and assess participation levels at different points in time. If an uplift in activity is detected, there remains the issue of establishing a reasonable causal link between the event and the uplift.

This section provides some initial guidance and recommendations for those attempting to establish the impact of an event on actual participation. In reality, this work is probably best considered as an integral part of any bespoke development programmes that are structured around a major event. As noted previously in eventIMPACTS, events can be strong at inspiring people to participate, but in isolation from any specialist support programmes, they are unlikely to create sustained behavioural participation change.