Sophie Hope and Henry Mulhall see evaluation as part of a practice-based approach to research. Over the course of BE PART, they have used evaluation techniques that aim to get a more situated and nuanced idea of what’s happening across the network. They are using methods that aim to get a sense of how various people engaged with the project at different times and places, engaging with micro, meso and macro levels of BE PART.
The evaluation has involved 3 methods used to embed critical reflection during the process of BE PART, with an aim to inform the direction of their work, connect people across the network and gather data for further analysis.
These methods are:
Cards On The Table: Each partner organisation was given a pack of cards at the beginning of BE PART to play with amongst their organisations and with the artists, community partners and participants of the Fieldworks as a way to reflect on the process of working together and their different understandings, experiences and agendas. These games are recorded and sent back to the evaluators. More information can be found via www.cardsonthetable.org
Fieldwork Diarists: One person from each area was recruited and paid Euro 1000 to act as a participant observer ‘behind the scenes’ of the Fieldworks, writing up diary entries and reflections about the different types of participation and co-creation they were witnessing.
Blind Dates: There have been 3 rounds of ‘blind dates’ during the period of BE PART, where people across the network were put into pairs and invited to have a conversation together, online, and share their experience of working on the BE PART project.
Analysis of the material generated through these methods aims to understand how decisions are made, relationships are built and changes occur through the BE PART process. The methods aim to provide a space for those involved to reflect on the changing meanings, understandings, motivations and experiences of participation, power-sharing, co-creation and collaboration.
From January 2023 Sophie and Henry will be gathering all the data that has been produced by the various methods over the last few years. From there they will produce a critical report, including a set of diagrams and present their findings at the final event in Riga in September 2023.