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It is important to build in monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for government communications to measure reaction from and outcomes for disabled people, alongside other groups.
Monitoring could be in the form of increased take-up of services by disabled people or media coverage in particular disability publications.
It could include getting feedback from disabled people. You could do this by convening focus groups to get qualitative information from disabled people (remember to gather the views of people with a range of impairments, different ages and ethnic groups) or by providing accessible forms so that people can give feedback on services, publications, websites and events.
If you are asking people for feedback on communications products, it might be helpful to ask whether or not they fit the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act, alongside other characteristics. The Equality and Human Rights Commission provides some suggested forms of question.
Proper evaluation is essential to understanding the effectiveness of communication strategies. It measures their impact, helping us to understand better what works for our audiences and identifying areas where we need to improve.
Evaluation is really of two kinds: evaluating how well our communications have worked with our target audiences, for example in terms of awareness, attitudes or behaviour (what their impact was) and how well (in terms of timing, budget, etc) they were delivered (how good the process was).
Process evaluation could examine whether there was effective budget setting in relation to non-text formats, such as audiotape or British Sign Language DVDs.
Impact evaluation could consider whether segments of a target audience (including disabled people) were aware of a particular campaign.
For practical tips, visit the top tips section of this guidance.
For other information resources, go to the resources section of this guidance.
Page last reviewed: 11 August 2008