Introduction to evaluation
The evaluation of community engagement involves measuring both the way an activity is undertaken (process) and the results of the activity (outcomes).
Evaluation is done to:
- ensure that stakeholders are appropriately engaged
- inform and improve planning and decision-making
- improve community engagement practice and guide future activities
- report and account for the use of resources in projects.
Community engagement evaluation involves three main activities:
- Developing an evaluation framework and data collection tools
- Collecting and analysing data
- Interpreting, sharing, reporting, and responding to results.
Scale
Evaluation varies in scale, depending on the extent of community engagement that government activities involve. Relatively small projects and specific engagement activities are often measured with a limited number of criteria and one or two simple methods, such as a survey questionnaire to participants in a consultation workshop, based on a few key questions. Larger, longer-term activities require more comprehensive evaluation, with a range of criteria and several integrated methods of measurement.
Time frame
Community engagement activities have short to medium-term impacts and longer-term outcomes. Realistically, most evaluation processes focus on the quality of engagement in the short to medium term. This largely measures the impact of specific projects or engagement activities. Broader policies and programs generally have longer-term outcomes and are more difficult to evaluate. Details on approaches suited to this type of evaluation are available in the associated guide, Engaging Queenslanders: Evaluating community engagement.
Evaluation covers the spectrum of community engagement practice, ranging from information provision to consultation and active participation. The following diagram illustrates how evaluation relates to these different levels of engagement, using community engagement on a transport corridor as an example.
| Criteria | Criteria | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
 |
|
|
| Information | Consultation | Active participation |
| How effectively stakeholders were informed | How effectively stakeholders were consulted | How effectively stakeholders were actively involved |
| For example the need for and purpose of a transport corridor | For example, wider community consultation on all issues, including location, services and amenity issues | For example, directly affected property owners on issues affecting corridor location |
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