Impact and evaluation

Robust evaluation is a powerful tool to support effective project and activity design and decision-making. The Student Voice and Evaluation team developed the LJMU Evaluation Framework to support the University to build evaluation capacity, knowledge, and skills. It also provides an avenue to demonstrate impact and share good practice.

LJMU Evaluation Framework

The LJMU Evaluation Framework provides a structured approach to evaluating initiatives aimed at enhancing the student experience and addressing barriers to equity. Closely aligned with institutional evaluation priorities outlined in the Access and Participation Plan, the framework supports the development, implementation, and dissemination of evaluation outcomes.

The framework should be a starting point for designing or re-designing interventions. This will ensure robust evaluation is built into an intervention's initial design. This will, in turn, allow the results of your evaluation to inform future interventions, or, to embed an intervention into your own or wider institutional practice.

Principles

The LJMU evaluation framework assumes that:

  • Each step in the framework builds upon the previous step.
  • Evaluation is an iterative process whereby you can revise and improve each step as you go along.
  • Evaluation is proportionate to the activity being evaluated in terms of time spent and resources allocated.

Show all sections

01 Diagnose & Plan

02 Design Evaluation

03 Collect & Analyse

04 Reflect & Share

Support by the Student Voice and Evaluation Team

The Student Voice and Evaluation Team, situated within the Teaching and Learning Academy, offers support on a variety of evaluation related activities and topics, including:

  • Theory of Change
  • Research and evaluation design
  • Data collection methods
  • Data analysis methods
  • Ethics application
  • Sharing results internally and externally
  • Writing for publication

We offer various levels of support, from low-level support in the form of reviewing and providing feedback, medium-level support in the form of one-on-one consultations and proof-reading, to high-level hands-on support such as help with complex statistical analyses or consulting (in-house) expertise.

We strongly encourage project teams to engage in evaluation activities independently, utilising the LJMU Evaluation Framework and the outlined resources. However, we recognise the need for support. The level of support we can offer depends on the following factors:

  • Alignment with the Access and Participation Plan targets
     The APP outlines the work LJMU will do to ensure that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are able to access university courses, succeed in them, and progress from higher education. Any activities or interventions aimed at specific targets included in the APP are considered an institutional priority and will be given priority in regard to the level of support we will provide.
  • The type of evaluation (as per the Standards of Evidence by the Office for Students)
    While the OfS recognises that different types of evaluation are appropriate for different interventions, their advice is to strive for at least Type 2: Empirical Enquiry where appropriate. Hence, our level of support will be aligned with the need for more Type 2 (and Type 3) evaluations as required by the OfS.
  • The available skills, knowledge, and resources within the project team
    A recent evaluation skills questionnaire, along with anecdotal feedback, identified a need for more resource and support for variable levels of evaluation skills and knowledge within the academic departments and professional services. As such, we recognise that we are at the beginning of the journey to developing a culture of evaluation within our institution and strive to support staff along the way until more increased levels of skills, knowledge, and resource have been achieved.

Contact us via APP@ljmu.ac.uk or the APP and Evaluation helpdesk form.