Engaging and Learning for Conservation: Workshop on Public Participation in Scientific Research Workshop Evaluation – Report 2, Follow-up

Engaging and Learning for Conservation: Workshop on Public Participation in Scientific Research was held at the American Museum of Natural History 7-8 April 2011. This preliminary report is based on the delayed post feedback from workshop participants 2-3 months following the workshop. The overall goals of the project are to convene a workshop for scientists, educators, and community members involved in public participation in scientific research (PPSR) to share experiences, lessons, protocols, and tool and to collaboratively set forth a coherent agenda for answering outstanding questions for advancing informal education goals leading to conservation outcomes. The overarching evaluation question, therefore, is one of accountability: did the workshop lead to such a shared agenda designed in a way as to meet the extended goals? However, moving toward this end requires meeting several objectives of the workshop, which in turn necessitate outcome-based measurement. As the workshop itself is the centerpiece of the proposal, understanding the changes in participants after returning to their daily routines around the key workshop products is a way of formatively understanding the potential for success. In the workshop feedback, it was clear that both levels of goals were in operation during the workshop. In the delayed post measure, it appears that the distance from the workshop has increased value perceived in the workshop, and has led to a very different perspective of what was valuable from the workshop in translation to daily work. First, the high percentage of respondents to the delayed post is telling. The findings throughout the follow-up of participants thinking differently, reflecting on practice, and considering new activities and audiences all indicate a strong, sustained influence of the workshop on the participants. There were strong gains in perceived movement toward workshop goals in the delayed post.There are also some important considerations for the organizers in the continuation of this project. As in the workshop feedback data, the energy around networking was tremendous. The shift of the energy to both action and to critical reflection suggests the workshop was timely and appropriate. Participants appear to be very committed to diversity or reaching new audiences and seeking a broad interpretation of diversity in participants in PPSR. Resources and support for this work could be important. Networking was clearly the dominant theme in the feedback immediately following the workshop. In the delayed post, there was still a strong networking theme, but there was indication of networking underway as a result of the workshop rather than as a planned outcome from having attended. There is a perceived need for the toolkit and the completed resources surrounding the toolkit. A strong response in the delayed post feedback related to the need for an association for PPSR professionals. There was a shift in planned actions from the post workshop feedback to the delayed post feedback. In the immediate post workshop, specific activities were named related to plans for action; in the delayed post, there was more reflective and integrative activities identified. The appendix of this report includes the survey used in the study.

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