What are the Intermediate Measures?
Whilst not an assessment of the long term impacts, it is possible to assess the impact of events on changing people's attitudes to participation, e.g. increasing their likelihood of being more physically or culturally active.
The buzz and excitement surrounding events makes them a potential platform for promoting participation in sport and culture. For example, some 38% of people surveyed as part of the London 2012 Festival audience survey felt that the UK hosting the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games had motivated them to do more cultural activities. From a public health agenda, promoting physical activity is a core part of the UK government strategy to improve the health of the nation.
There is a growing body of research that looks at attitudinal changes caused by major events on people who attend them. Research undertaken to measure the impact of the Edinburgh Festivals on cultural engagement utilised an audience survey which captured responses on a five-point Likert scale (strongly agree - agree - neither agree nor disagree - disagree - strongly disagree) and found evidence that:
- The Festivals are a stimulus to further attendance at similar cultural events subsequently.
- Audiences are more likely to take their children to similar cultural events as a result of their Festival experience.
- Audiences are more likely to take greater risks in their cultural choices and explore new cultural experiences as a result of their Festival-going.
Research commissioned by UK Sport since 2010 involving thousands of surveys with spectators attending major sports events has measured the percentage of people who feel inspired by their event experience to increase their participation in sport and active recreation. Spectators aged 16 and over were surveyed at the events using a standard self-completion survey. Selected findings from a sample of events are shown in the graph below.
'I am inspired to do sport or recreational physical activity more frequently than I normally do'
Citizens' panels and omnibus surveys can be used to measure changes in people's attitudes linked to an event. Attitudinal research commissioned by UK Sport into the inspiration effect of major events on TV viewers using an omnibus survey of a representative sample of the British population found that:
- Over two-thirds of the British population (68%) had watched a major sporting event on TV in the three months prior to interview; and
- 28% of these viewers felt inspired to participate or to participate more frequently in sport as a result of watching a major event on TV.