PRESENTATION BY:PRESENTATION BY:

PEER RESEARCHTRAINING

Young volunteers (13 – 24 year old’s)

OPM

WELCOME!

VOLUNTEERING• Evaluation helps to reflect on the positive impact that

volunteering experience has had on:

• Your own life

• The children you work with

• The libraries you work in

QUIZ TIME

• 1. We will ask you all some questions about The

Summer Reading Challenge

• 2. Test your knowledge about a few facts and

figures

• 3. But also ask you a few questions about your

own experience - there are no right or wrong

answers – just answer what you think

•

WHAT CAN THIS QUIZ TELL US?

• Figures – How many participants involved: Popularity and reach

• Why participants took part: Understand expectations and tailor

recruitment practices

• What did participants like/ dislike: how to improve it or what to get rid of

• What did gain questions: Find out about impact and demonstrate the

projects worth

• Would you continue questions: demonstrates how much people enjoy

the project

• Quotes/ personal stories: a more personal and interesting account

What

is

evaluation?

WHY COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT VOLUNTEERING?

• Know that volunteering is making a difference

• Learn from what has happened before to improve it

• Demonstrate to others the impact and value of the

work

• Convince others to support the work you do

PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION

• What is it?

• Seeks to involve project participants more actively

in the evaluation process: in the design stage, in

carrying out the field research, and in analysing and

documenting the results.

WHY DO WE NEED YOUR HELP?

• You are right at the frontline – you know best what is going

• You are also best placed to get information from your fellow volunteers

• You are more likely to encourage other volunteers to get involved in this

evaluation

• Volunteers may be more comfortable with you and give you more honest

responses

• You can help design the ways to collect information that other young

volunteers can relate to

• It can help develop your CV

HOW COULD YOU COLLECT INFORMATION?

• One to One Interviews

• Surveys sent out to larger groups (online or paper)

• Focus Groups (informal discussions about issues in small

groups)

• Suggestion boxes

• ‘graffiti walls’

• Through social media and video

REMINDER: WHAT KIND OF DATA?

• Quantitative data is information that can be measured using

numbers. Questionnaires and surveys are often used to collect

quantitative data.

• Eg: There are 821 students at Rainbow Community School

• Qualitative data aims to provide an understanding of how and why

things are as they are. Interviews and focus groups are often used

to collect qualitative data.

• Eg: The students at Rainbow Community School are responsible,

civic minded and enthusiastic about learning

DESIGNING QUESTIONS

• You are going to design some questions to collect

information from your fellow volunteers

• You want to find out what kind of impact being a

volunteer has and what difference it makes

• Focus on how to find out what skills volunteers are

learning, what opportunities and benefits it might bring

– but also think more widely if you want

TIPS

• What information do you want to collect?

• What questions will you ask?

• A good questionnaire is not long (no more than 10

minutes to answer)

• Good to design questions in groups to ensure the

questions are relevant

TIPS• Closed questions (answer is yes or no) are easier to

answer

• But open questions – where people can answer in their

own words – shows a wider variety of answers and

experiences

• Good to have a mix of both

HOW WILL YOU USE THE QUESTIONNAIRE?

• Face to face?

• Write the answers down on paper survey/graffiti wall?

• Create an online version to send via email or facebook?

• Organise focus groups?

• Record short video interviews?

• Use the online volunteer resource to ask questions?

NEXT STEPS

• Draw together all your questions and ideas and write them up

• Look at your tip sheet for ideas on how to use the questions

• Everyone give a rough estimate of how many volunteers you think

you can talk to by the end of the summer

• Note down your emails/ volunteer target/ and the method of

collecting information you think you prefer

• Pass on the information you collect to a staff member at your library