Description:
This heading includes any type of data collection which includes a comparison of what subjects were like before participation in Aimhigher activities compared to after they had taken part. The usual method is to administer two questionnaires – one before the event and one after it (or to use one questionnaire which asks people to think about how they were at different points in time). If you want to test changes in particular specific skills or aptitudes one could envisage more formal types of testing although this has not usually been the case for Aimhigher as generally the changes are in people’s knowledge, attitudes and perceptions.

How used in Aimhigher:
This technique has been really useful in Aimhigher to show how learners have changed their knowledge, views and attitudes as a result of participation in Aimhigher activities. It is usually appropriate for activities which include some sustained or in-depth work with learners over a period of time (you couldn’t use it on a one day event).

Another approach has been to use administrative data so long as this is objective. For example, to look at predicted exam results before and after participation in an activity.

Advice on the Method:

• The trick to running an effective before and after comparison is to make sure the questions asked (or tests) are the same for both sets of questionnaires. Even minor changes in the way the questions are worded can make if difficult to make comparisons. As far as practicable you will also need to administer the questions in exactly the same way both times.
  
  
• It is possible to make comparisons from most types of information, however rating scales are particularly useful as they make it relatively easy to analyse the results. A rating scale is basically a way of assigning a value to each opinion, and then seeing when the value has increased later on. An example of this would be for instance asking learners to say on a scale of 1-5 how much they knew about higher education costs before and after a programme of activities designed to give information on the costs.  
  
  
• If you aren’t able to do two different questionnaires you could ask respondents to think back in time to before the activity and remember how much they knew, however, try to collect the information at two points in time if you can.
  
  
• There are at least two ways of analysing the results. One way would be to take each respondent individually and look at whether their individual score has increased or not. You can then say how many of the group showed an increase (and how many stayed the same or went down).
  
  
• Another approach is to look at the results across the group as a whole. For example you might observe that before the activity 30% of participants were interested in applying the HE, whereas after the activity 80% said they were interested in applying.