Museums and Transformation: Evidencing Need and Assessing the Impact of Socially Engaged Practice

Module code: MU7564

Increasingly museums and galleries are tasked with evidencing their impact on and contributions to their communities. This module focuses on the approaches to, and rationale for, research and evaluation in socially engaged museum and gallery practice, in particular, their role in demonstrating the value and purpose of museum work on audiences and wider society.  

At its core, this module focuses on collective methods for evaluation which bring stakeholders and communities into the research process as partners. It develops your professional research skills in a variety of ways. It looks at varied areas of practice from a number of perspectives including how we can evidence the impact of museums and galleries on society, and the role of evaluation in determining community needs. 

Topics covered

• Theories of change and transformation
• Formative and summative evaluation
• Collaborative research methods
• Reflexive approaches to practice and evaluation
• Asymmetrical power relationships in evaluation methodologies
• The role of museums and galleries in movements for change