MLA

Major culture and sport research findings published

A major and unique suite of research findings has now been published (21 July).  The research stems from the work of The Culture and Sport Evidence programme (CASE), which was set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2008, in collaboration with MLA, Arts Council England, English Heritage, and Sport England.

CASE is strong demonstration of the commitment of the culture and sport sectors to work collaboratively to answer some of the long-term questions around participation and impact of culture and sport in England, using research resources cost-effectively and strategically to help ensure decisions are based on robust evidence. 

Some Key Findings

• Robust, peer-reviewed evidence of what the drivers of engagement are. To increase engagement, the key challenge is to shift people from being ‘aware’ of an opportunity to engage in culture and sport, to being ‘interested’ – the most effective approaches are based on education and promotion, and giving people a sense of ownership.  
• Those who feel they have an influence over local cultural facilities are more likely to engage;  
• Confirmation of the importance of age, childhood experience, education and socio-economic status for engagement;  
• New insight into ethnicity: young people from BME and non-BME groups have a similar probability of engaging in culture, but this changes for older people, where those from a BME group are less likely to engage in culture.  
• Evidence that improving the quality of school libraries improves academic attainment and attitudes to learning;  
• Evidence that museum attendance is linked to perceived improved learning, and that learning support provided by museums improves student attitudes towards school;  
• Evidence of sport and arts impact on numeracy and attainment.  
• A reduction in affordability would have a disproportionately negative impact on participation in libraries and museums (i.e. more so than other sectors);  
• Changes in the age of the population by 2012 will increase the numbers of people visiting museums and using libraries by about 3%.  

What has been published?

A suite of reports by Matrix Knowledge Group and the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre):  

• a summary paper and a technical paper on what drives engagement in culture and sport  
• a summary paper and technical paper on the value of engagement in culture and sport  
• papers on the impacts of engagement in culture and sport for children and young people,
• one overarching summary of all of the above  
• There is also a related report by Europe Economics on the effectiveness of previous interventions designed to encourage engagement in culture and sport.   In addition, the CASE programme is developing a number of valuable resources for local, regional and national policy makers:  
• a searchable database of over 5,000 research reports from around the world on the drivers, impacts and value of engagement in culture and sport  
• a model for predicting how levels of engagement in culture and sport will change with economic and demographic shifts and for estimating the likely impact of different policies to increase engagement  
• a library of studies of the benefits and costs of different policy interventions for increasing engagement in culture and sport  
• regional insights: a new and comprehensive set of culture and sport statistics at regional and local level including data on employment, investment, assets, participation, volunteering and tourism, with summary reports for each region  
• a toolkit to enable local and regional planners to map culture and sport assets within a nationally agreed framework  

Further information and all the publications to date are available on the CASE website: www.culture.gov.uk/case    

About Case  

The Culture and Sport Evidence programme (CASE) was set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2008, in collaboration with Arts Council England, English Heritage, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and Sport England.   It is the first real attempt by the culture and sport sectors to work collaboratively to answer some of the long-term questions around participation and impact of culture and sport in England.  

CASE is the biggest mixed-methods culture and sport research programme ever undertaken. It aims to build on the statistical data on culture and sports engagement generated at national and local level by our Taking Part and Active People surveys by drawing in wider data and research.  

The programme is initially focussed on culture and sport participation research questions:  what is the value of engaging in culture or sport? why do people engage in culture or sport?   The research published so far comprises a suite of findings which will inform future decision making.