aes18 International Evaluation Conference

David Spicer (Colmar Brunton), Kirstin Couper (Colmar Brunton)

The impact of disruptions initiated by the transformation of transport infrastructure is a hot topic in Melbourne. Improvements to crucial arterial roads and public transport corridors mean there is a lot for Melburnians to consider when planning a journey. We will share the results from an evaluation of the impact of twelve infrastructure disruptions. Each of the twelve disruptions covered different locations, time periods and transport modes. Historically, there has been concern that traditional lagging indicators from online and phone surveying could not capture accurate or timely recall of travel experience. We overcame this limitation using 'geo-targeted sampling' as part of a suite of methodologies. We used targeted surveys on mobile devices using GPS data to identify individuals who had been present at a specific location at a specific time. There was no traditional 'Evaluation Report' for this study, nor did we use static 'scorecards' or similar devices across the 12 disruptions. Instead, we shaped the way that policy-makers and planners could interrogate the data relevant to their area by providing a series of interactive online dashboards. The dashboard enabled the dissemination of findings that created a space where a broad range of stakeholders could test their hypotheses. These stakeholders may not have been able to answer their own research questions using traditional and static report/scorecard materials.This did not de-value the role of the evaluator who was always on hand to aid with interpretation and translation of data into insights. Rather, it empowered clients and their stakeholders to take control of their own data. We will demonstrate the dashboard outputs in our presentation.