Research

Pilot impact evaluation

With the support of Thames Valley Police and Arc Theatre, we arranged to have two questionnaires completed by young people at performances of "Boy X" at schools and PRUs in three towns - Milton Keynes, High Wycombe and Reading. The questionnaires were provided before and after the show in order to evaluate what the impact of the performance was on the young people. It was a pilot for two reasons: (1) because we need to know whether we are asking the right questions, and (2) whether follow-up questionnaires some time later could be completed. The initial questions were based on a US study involving university students who attended one performance by a number of different companies, somewhat different to our pilot. 

As of early 2011, we have yet to distribute follow-up questionnaires, but after this is done we will repeat the process with support from our partners, strengthen the methodology, and ultimately provide a robust evidence base to back our claim that arts-based performances do have a positive impact on marginalised and vulnerable young people.