Introducing the PLACES Toolkit for the Impact Assessment of Science Communication Initiatives and Policies

.How can we measure diverse impacts of collaborative efforts in science communication? This is a recurring question among researchers in the field of “Science in Society” (SiS), politicians and the communicators themselves.

As part of the European project PLACES, an independent scientific committee coordinated by the Science Communication Observatory-UPF in Barcelona, Spain, developed the PLACES Impact Assessment Toolkit to measure science communication initiatives and policies.

Whether you are a social scientist, an organizer of a science event, an exhibit developer at a science museum or a local authority interested in evaluating the impact of your scientific culture initiatives, the PLACES Impact Assessment Toolkit could be useful to you. The toolkit provides:

• Guidelines for website document analysis
• A wide range of semi-structured interview schedules
• Guidelines and structure for a variety of focus groups
• A standardized survey aiming to assess an ample array of impacts

The toolkit is currently being used in a series of case studies to assess the impact of scientific culture initiatives and policies in science centres, science events or festivals and science cities across Europe.

The toolkit has now been made publicly available both on the PLACES open web and on our Science Communication Observatory web.

The tool is open sourced and free for anyone to use. In the spirit of fostering scientific culture, we invite you to share your results and feedback with us by contacting the Science Communication Observatory at occ@upf.edu or +935 422 446


Este blog cuenta con la colaboración de la Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología – Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación