Making a Difference: A guide to evaluating .public participation in.central government - Involve

About the Guide

• Introduction
• 1 How can evaluation help?
• 2 Public engagement in public policy-making
• 3 Thinking about objectives
• 4 When to start evaluation
• 5 Measuring success
• 6 Doing the evaluation: What should it cover?
• 7 Doing the evaluation: How to do it
• 8 After the evaluation
• Annex 1: Glossary
• Annex 2: Costs and benefits of engagement
• Annex 3: Your Health, Your Care, Your Say - a case example of evaluation
• Annex 4: Principles of good practice
• Annex 5: Guides to engagement

About the authors and funders

For questions or feedback
please contact the Involve team on:
evaluation@involve.org.uk
or 020 7632 0120

Download the full Evaluation Guide as a pdf document

About the authors and funders

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About Involve

This guide has been written by Diane Warburton (Shared Practice) with Richard Wilson (Involve) and Elspeth Rainbow (Department for Constitutional Affairs). The guide and website is funded by the DCA.

Involve is a not-for-profit organisation specialising in the theory and practice of public participation. It exists to show how public participation can positively and productively change the lives of individuals and improve the working practices of institutions.

Involve provides advice, training, research, events and networking services to organisations and individuals interested in public participation. It has four core activities:

Advocacy - building the case for genuine citizen empowerment
New Thinking - improving understanding of what works
Better Practice - supporting institutions and citizens
Networking - bringing people from the participation and empowerment field together

Get involved…

For more information about Involve's publications and activities, or to receive our bimonthly newsletter about public participation and citizen empowerment in the UK, please contact info@involve.org.uk

About Shared Practice

Shared Practice works on experimental research and creative development.

It is an interdisciplinary practice, with a range of specialisms including public participation and community regeneration, design practice and education, evaluation, anthropology and music. One of its guiding principles is sustainable development, working across traditional boundaries and professions.

Diane Warburton is a writer/researcher and consultant on public and community participation and one of the UK's most experienced evaluators of public participation processes. She is a co-founder and Board member of Involve, with a particular interest in research including contributing to research projects on assessing participation methods, and the costs and benefits of participation.

About the DCA

The Department for Constitutional Affairs is responsible in government for upholding justice, rights and democracy. Its responsibilities in these areas include running the courts and improving the justice system; human rights and information rights law; and policy on running elections and modernising the constitution.