Support
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1. I’m just getting started with the Toolkit and am looking for an introduction.
2. I’m looking for technical guidance on using the platform.
3. I need help creating a specific type of evaluation.
4. I’m looking to learn more about best practice for evaluating with the Toolkit.
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1. Getting Started with the Impact & Insight Toolkit
User Guide
This section will get you to start thinking carefully and strategically about how to shape your evaluations in order to make the most out of the Impact & Insight Toolkit.
Checklist
An easy-to-work-through checklist to help you keep track of the steps you need to take to successfully complete a Toolkit evaluation.
Participatory Evaluation
If you plan to evaluate a participatory project using the participatory metrics, this section will help you to plan and strategise your evaluation; it differentiates this process from that of public-facing events.
If your organisation is a Band 1 or 2 NPO, or a CPP organisation, please find specific guidance for you below.
Mandatory Evaluation Guide for NPOs: Financial Year 2020-21
Arts Council knows that because of COVID-19, the audience data and insights NPOs collect might be limited, so they’ve produced some guidance to help NPOs know their expectations.
Mandatory Evaluation Guide for NPOs
This guide details Arts Council’s mandatory evaluation requirements for the financial year 2019-20
Mandatory Evaluation Guide for CPPs
It is a mandatory requirement for New Creative People and Places projects (those funded from October 2019) to undertake a minimum number of Impact & Insight Toolkit evaluations each year and share findings with their Relationship Manager via an agreed reporting template.
If you didn’t attend one of our induction events in January 2019, the video below is a perfect place to start familiarising yourself with the Impact & Insight Toolkit.
*Please note, the links above will take you away from the Impact and Insight Toolkit and to YouTube. Please ensure you are happy for this to happen before clicking and have familiarised yourself with their cookie and privacy policies.
2. Technical Guidance
Platform Guide
This guide will help you find your way around the Culture Counts platform and is sure to answer many of the technical questions you may have when getting started.
Using the Peer Matching Resource
This page explains how to find and invite peers to review your work using the new Peer Matching Resource.
Using the Dimensions Interpretation Tool
As part of the Toolkit project, a series of tools is being released to assist in the exploration of the public-facing, anonymous, aggregate dataset. The Dimensions Interpretation Tool is the first of these and has been designed for NPO users.
Creating an Insights Report
This page explains the process for creating an Insights Report, which is used for the submission of mandatory evaluations to Arts Council.
Evaluation Properties
We strongly recommend you add metadata tags to your evaluations; these are descriptors of your event which will enable you to make more detailed comparisons between your evaluations over time, or against aggregate data sets.
Importing External Data into Culture Counts
If you have carried out paper surveys, this page explains how to go about uploading your data into Culture Counts.
Visit our YouTube channel for more videos, covering specific topics such as:
- An in-depth look at Reporting
- How to download raw data
- Ways of conducting data analysis in excel
- And more!
3. Specific Types of Evaluation
Developing the Evaluation for Online Works Template
The new template has been designed in collaboration with arts and cultural organisations as well as funding bodies in order to establish a survey to capture insight into the ever-increasing use of digital media to experience arts and cultural works. This guide will assist you as you develop the survey to meet your own needs.
Paper Surveys
This section explains when it is and when it is not appropriate to use paper surveys and the reasons why. It also includes a diagram to help you choose the best delivery method for your public surveys.
4. Best Practice for Toolkit Evaluation
GDPR for Touring Companies and Venues
Counting What Counts (CWC) has worked closely with Katy Raines from Indigo-Ltd in preparing these guidance notes, following a Touring pilot project she ran with three opera companies and seven venues.
Managing Audience Finder
The Audience Agency, Counting What Counts and the Arts Council want to support NPOs to use the two systems together as cost-effectively as possible and ensure that the process of contributing data and feedback is straightforward and engaging for audience members. This page offers guidance for NPOs on how to manage both tools alongside each other.
Sample Size Guidance
This page offers guidance on target sample sizes to organisations conducting audience and visitor surveys as part of the Impact & Insight Toolkit programme.
Peer Review: For Toolkit Users
Read here about the peer review process and the principles of peer review as part of the Impact & Insight Toolkit. This section also holds answers to some of your FAQs including who should be a peer reviewer, what’s involved and why it’s important.
Guidance for Interviewers
This section outlines the key information your interviewers need to know to successfully collect survey responses using Culture Counts. It also includes a link to an instructional video we created on our YouTube channel.
Peer Review: For Professionals
If you’re interested in becoming a peer reviewer for the Impact & Insight Toolkit, this page will give you all the information you need to understand what is involved.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
These FAQs have been compiled following recent months of correspondence with Impact & Insight Toolkit users, as well as questions that were raised at August’s online Q&A online.