What is the Evaluation Lab?

The Evaluation Lab is another branch of the Impact & Insight Toolkit (still free of charge!), giving you access to new and additional templates.

Unlike the standard Toolkit surveys, they do not automatically include dimensions or encourage the triangulation approach to evaluation.

They have been designed to respond to specific ‘gaps’ we have encountered whilst working with the arts and sector, when it comes to evaluation.

If you’d like to learn more about the Evaluation Lab, please click here to read the dedicated blogpost.

What is the Classroom Survey (5-7 years old) template?

This survey template is part of Counting What Counts’ Evaluation Lab offer; it captures the experiences of an arts and cultural activity in a group setting, primarily in schools. The target age for this survey is those aged 5-7 years old but, of course, you can use it as you see fit.

Rather than asking pupils to complete a survey independently, this template guides teachers (or similar staff members) to facilitate the process and record pupil responses in a structured way. It’s designed to be used by arts and cultural organisations that want to understand, in a measurable format, how pupils experience and respond to their work when participating as part of a group. In this way, the feedback reflects the pupils’ perspectives while benefiting from adult support.

What is contained in the survey template?

The survey template contains four questions for the children to respond to, plus an additional three questions for the teacher or survey facilitator to respond to. It also contains instructions to guide them in their collection of responses.

As is standard with surveys in Culture Counts, there is flexibility built in. You can tailor the questions to your activity, participants and evaluation objectives, if you choose to do so. However, you can also use it exactly as it is.

To see a list of the questions included in this survey template, click here.

Why should I use the survey template?

Classroom surveys can be particularly useful when you:

• Need to gather feedback from whole classes or large groups
• Are working with younger pupils who may need support responding to survey questions
• Want a consistent approach across multiple schools or settings to aid your wider evaluation practice

There is also a particular strength in the kind of data this survey produces. Typically, a single survey response corresponds to one person’s feedback. With this survey, each response corresponds to a whole classroom of children and their teacher. Therefore, each response carries a great deal more information.

The survey data is best used:

• As an indicator for the appropriateness and quality of execution of the work being evaluated
• To identify how the work could be improved
• To collect quotes and long-form feedback that can be used to advocate for the work in the future

When should I use the survey template?

Aim to obtain feedback from pupils, with support from their teacher, as soon as possible after their experience. This helps ensure the responses are fresh in participants’ minds and most accurately reflect their feelings.

How should I use the survey template?

This survey is designed to be used in a classroom where the children have participated in cultural activities together. The teacher facilitates the survey, and they should be different to the person who led the activities.

The introduction to the survey includes wording that explains to the teacher what it will involve. We recommend also explaining the survey to them by email and sharing a copy of the survey questions beforehand, so they know what they will be doing in advance.

The action of the pupils completing the survey in the classroom is a key part of the process. It gives the teacher the opportunity to observe the children as they are asked about their experience, and to report back via the survey. At this young age the children’s answers may not always be incredibly reliable, but the teacher’s perspective is.

How should I analyse the results?

Because each response represents a whole classroom rather than an individual, we recommend treating the data accordingly. To interpret it:

• Consider each survey response individually, rather than trying to aggregate the responses or calculate averages.
• Review the answers from each teacher about potential impact and feedback. Note down the key positive and negative points, and highlight any quotes you would like to reference later.
• Review the children’s answers on the best things about the activities and what could have been better. Look for points commonly identified across classrooms, and again highlight quotes for later reference.
• Add up the total number of children in the Yes / No / Not sure space for each of the questions that used that feature, and compare it to the total number of children who participated. This is used more as a means of identifying problems than to provide quantitative evaluation. If there are more than a few in the ‘No’ space for either question, it warrants following up with those leading the sessions.

Remember that results to surveys like this are great conversation starters to aid development within your organisation.

How was this template developed?

The design of this survey was informed by desk research into appropriate practices for surveying children, whilst simultaneously considering common challenges across arts and cultural organisations.

The methods in the survey follow the Mosaic Approach. This approach recommends using a multi-modal approach for collecting responses from children. In this instance, the children indicate their responses to the survey questions through movement and shouting out answers in groups. The ‘shout out’ for open ended feedback serves a couple of purposes:

• It acts as a mitigation to acquiescence bias of the yes/no options
• The group response format addresses the inequality between adults and young children that may be felt, encouraging them to be more vocal.

Research conducted by Coombes et al generally recommends using a dichotomous response format (only having two options) when surveying children aged 5-7. However, it is also widely considered good practice for there to be an ‘I don’t know’ or a ‘Not sure’ option.  Therefore, we opted to go for 3 answer options with the first two questions in the survey: ‘Yes’, ‘No’ and ‘Not sure’.

The survey also includes a section for the teacher to answer about the children’s experience from their point of view, acting as a proxy. This is a recognised and recommended approach for young children.

Where should I use the survey template?

The template is intended for classroom and group settings where children aged 5–7 have taken part in cultural activities together. For example, this might be in primary schools or other educational environments where a teacher or facilitator can guide pupils through the questions.

Sounds good – how do I access the Evaluation Lab and this template?

Firstly, you’ll need to have signed up to the Evaluation Lab. Please contact us by email and we’ll help you get set up.

Then, to create your survey using an Evaluation Lab template:

1. Click ‘Create new evaluation’
2. Choose to create from blank
3. Click ‘Create new survey’
4. Create from template
5. Choose the Evaluation Lab
6. Choose the survey titled ‘Classroom survey (5–7 year olds)’
7. Click ‘Use selected template’
8. Make changes on the Configure and Design pages
9. Send the ‘Online’ link to the teacher/survey facilitator

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Access the list of questions below!