Improving the Evaluation of Outreach: Interview Report

This report describes key features of current outreach activity and its evaluation, as conducted by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in England. The report analyses and summarises key points from interviews with widening participation staff in eight institutions, to understand current practice and challenges related to outreach evaluation. The report will be of interest to anyone wanting to gain a clearer understanding of current outreach evaluation practice across the sector, and an idea of areas where more support is needed. This project is commissioned and contracted by OFFA, with additional funding from the Department for Education and the Sutton Trust. The Principal Investigator is Dr Claire Crawford (Department of Economics, University of Warwick), working closely with Dr Siobhan Dytham (Centre for Education Studies, University of Warwick). The first phase of this research has involved a scoping exercise to
understand current practice and challenges. This has led to the development of Standards of Evidence and Recommendations. These will be developed further and tested in the second phase of the project.